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“Then it’s all right?” said Nicholas, again scrutinizing the expression of his sister’s face to see if she was in earnest. Then he jumped down and, his boots scrunching the snow, ran back to his sleigh. The same happy, smiling Circassian, with mustache and beaming eyes looking up from under a sable hood, was still sitting there, and that Circassian was Snya, and that Snya was certainly his future happy and loving wife.
When they reached home and had told their mother how they had spent the evening at the Melyukvs’, the girls went to their bedroom. When they had undressed, but without washing off the cork mustaches, they sat a long time talking of their happiness. They talked of how they would live when they were married, how their husbands would be friends, and how happy they would be. On Natsha’s table stood two looking glasses which Dunysha had prepared beforehand.
“Only when will all that be? I am afraid never.... It would be too good!” said Natsha, rising and going to the looking glasses.
“Sit down, Natsha; perhaps you’ll see him,” said Snya.
Natsha lit the candles, one on each side of one of the looking glasses, and sat down.
“I see someone with a mustache,” said Natsha, seeing her own face.
“You mustn’t laugh, Miss,” said Dunysha.
With Snya’s help and the maid’s, Natsha got the glass she held into the right position opposite the other; her face assumed a serious expression and she sat silent. She sat a long time looking at the receding line of candles reflected in the glasses and expecting (from tales she had heard) to see a coffin, or him, Prince Andrew, in that last dim, indistinctly outlined square. But ready as she was to take the smallest speck for the image of a man or of a coffin, she saw nothing. She began blinking rapidly and moved away from the looking glasses.
“Why is it others see things and I don’t?” she said. “You sit down now, Snya. You absolutely must, tonight! Do it for me.... Today I feel so frightened!”
Snya sat down before the glasses, got the right position, and began looking.
“Now, Miss Snya is sure to see something,” whispered Dunysha; “while you do nothing but laugh.”
Snya heard this and Natsha’s whisper:
“I know she will. She saw something last year.”
For about three minutes all were silent.
“Of course she will!” whispered Natsha, but did not finish... suddenly Snya pushed away the glass she was holding and covered her eyes with her hand.
“Oh, Natsha!” she cried.
“Did you see? Did you? What was it?” exclaimed Natsha, holding up the looking glass.
Snya had not seen anything, she was just wanting to blink and to get up when she heard Natsha say, “Of course she will!” She did not wish to disappoint either Dunysha or Natsha, but it was hard to sit still. She did not herself know how or why the exclamation escaped her when she covered her eyes.
“You saw him?” urged Natsha, seizing her hand.
“Yes. Wait a bit... I... saw him,” Snya could not help saying, not yet knowing whom Natsha meant by him, Nicholas or Prince Andrew.
“But why shouldn’t I say I saw something? Others do see! Besides who can tell whether I saw anything or not?” flashed through Snya’s mind.
“Yes, I saw him,” she said.
“How? Standing or lying?”
“No, I saw... At first there was nothing, then I saw him lying down.”
“Andrew lying? Is he ill?” asked Natsha, her frightened eyes fixed on her friend.
“No, on the contrary, on the contrary! His face was cheerful, and he turned to me.” And when saying this she herself fancied she had really seen what she described.
“Well, and then, Snya?...”
“After that, I could not make out what there was; something blue and red....”
“Snya! When will he come back? When shall I see him! O, God, how afraid I am for him and for myself and about everything!...” Natsha began, and without replying to Snya’s words of comfort she got into bed, and long after her candle was out lay open-eyed and motionless, gazing at the moonlight through the frosty windowpanes.
Soon after the Christmas holidays Nicholas told his mother of his love for Snya and of his firm resolve to marry her. The countess, who had long noticed what was going on between them and was expecting this declaration, listened to him in silence and then told her son that he might marry whom he pleased, but that neither she nor his father would give their blessing to such a marriage. Nicholas, for the first time, felt that his mother was displeased with him and that, despite her love for him, she would not give way. Coldly, without looking at her son, she sent for her husband and, when he came, tried briefly and coldly to inform him of the facts, in her son’s presence, but unable to restrain herself she burst into tears of vexation and left the room. The old count began irresolutely to admonish Nicholas and beg him to abandon his purpose. Nicholas replied that he could not go back on his word, and his father, sighing and evidently disconcerted, very soon became silent and went in to the countess. In all his encounters with his son, the count was always conscious of his own guilt toward him for having wasted the family fortune, and so he could not be angry with him for refusing to marry an heiress and choosing the dowerless Snya. On this occasion, he was only more vividly conscious of the fact that if his affairs had not been in disorder, no better wife for Nicholas than Snya could have been wished for, and that no one but himself with his Mtenka and his uncomfortable habits was to blame for the condition of the family finances.
The father and mother did not speak of the matter to their son again, but a few days later the countess sent for Snya and, with a cruelty neither of them expected, reproached her niece for trying to catch Nicholas and for ingratitude. Snya listened silently with downcast eyes to the countess’ cruel words, without understanding what was required of her. She was ready to sacrifice everything for her benefactors. Self-sacrifice was her most cherished idea but in this case she could not see what she ought to sacrifice, or for whom. She could not help loving the countess and the whole Rostv family, but neither could she help loving Nicholas and knowing that his happiness depended on that love. She was silent and sad and did not reply. Nicholas felt the situation to be intolerable and went to have an explanation with his mother. He first implored her to forgive him and Snya and consent to their marriage, then he threatened that if she molested Snya he would at once marry her secretly.
