FATHERS AND CHILDREN
pore, delicate, timidly raised face; he felt on the
palms of his hands that soft hair, and saw those
innocent, slightly parted lips, through which
pearly teeth gleamed with moist brilliance in
the sunshine. He began to watch her with
great attention in church, and tried to get into
conversation with her. At first she was shy of
him, and one day meeting him at the approach
of evening in a narrow footpath through a field
of rye, she ran into the tall thick rye, overgrown
with cornflowers and wormwood, so as not to
meet him face to face* He caught sight of her
little head through a golden network of ears
of rye, from which she was peeping out like
a little animal, and called affectionately to
her—
^c Good-evening, Fenitchka! I don't bite/
'Good-evening/ she whispered, not coming
out of her ambush.
By degrees she began to be more at home
with him, but was still shy in his presence, when
suddenly her mother, Anna, died of cholera.
What was to become of Fenitchka ? She in-
herited from her mother a love for order, regu-
larity, and respectability ; but she was so young,
» alone, Nikolai Petrovitch was himself so
good and considerate.... It's needless to relate
the rest,..
*So my brother came in to see you ?' Nikolai
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