eties, the same doubts, and even more bitter quarrels with her husband.
The old prince, like all fathers, was excessively punctilious about everything concerning the honor and purity of his daughters, he was distressingly jealous regarding them, especially Kitty, who was his favorite, and at every step he accused his wife of compromising his daughter. The princess had become accustomed to these scenes from the days of her elder daughters, but now she felt that her husband's strictness had more justification. She saw that in these later days many of the practices of society had undergone a change, so that the duties of mothers were becoming more and more difficult. She saw how Kitty's young girl friends formed a sort of clique, went to races, freely mingled with men, went out driving alone; that many of them no longer made courtesies; and, what was more serious, all of them were firmly convinced that the choice of husbands was their affair and not their parents'.
"Marriages aren't made as they used to be," thought and said all these young ladies, and even some of the older people.
"But how are marriages made nowadays?" This question the princess could not get any one to answer.
The French custom, where the parents decide the fate of their children, was not accepted, was even bitterly criticized. The English custom, which allows the girls absolute liberty, was also not accepted, and was not possible in Russian society. The Russian custom of employing a match-maker was regarded as bad form; every one ridiculed it, even the princess herself. But no one seemed to know what course to take in regard to courtship. Every one with whom the princess talked said the same thing.
"For goodness' sake, it is time for us to renounce those exploded notions; it is the young folks, and not their parents, who get married, and, therefore, it is for young folks to make their arrangements in accordance with their own ideas."
It was well enough for those without daughters to
