A station was being built four miles from the town. It was said that the engineers asked for a bribe of fifty thousand roubles for bringing the line right up to the town, but the town council would only consent to give forty thousand; they could not come to an agreement over the difference, and now the townspeople regretted it, as they had to make a road to the station and that, it was reckoned, would cost more. The sleepers and rails had been laid throughout the whole length of the line, and trains ran up and down it, bringing building materials and labourers, and further progress was only delayed on account of the bridges which Dolzhikov was building, and some of the stations were not yet finished.

If I wanted to order a ring for myself, the inscription I should choose would be: Nothing passes away.鈥� I believe that nothing passes away without leaving a trace, and that every step we take, however small, has significance for our present and our future existence.

And who is to blame for it?鈥� cried my father. It鈥檚 your fault, you scoundrel!鈥�

How happy I am! How happy I am!鈥�

The day after my talk with my sister, I was working at the Azhogins鈥� from morning till night. The rehearsal was fixed for seven o鈥檆lock in the evening, and an hour before it began all the amateurs were gathered together in the hall, and the eldest, the middle, and the youngest Azhogins were pacing about the stage, reading from manuscript books. Radish, in a long rusty-red overcoat and a scarf muffled round his neck, already stood leaning with his head against the wall, gazing with a devout expression at the stage. Madame Azhogin went up first to one and then to another guest, saying something agreeable to each. She had a way of gazing into one鈥檚 face, and speaking softly as though telling a secret.