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She talked a long while and with great feeling. For some reason the idea came into his head that in the course of the summer he might grow fond of this little, weak, talkative creature, might be carried away and fall in love; in their position it was so possible and natural! This thought touched and amused him; he bent down to her sweet, preoccupied face and hummed softly:

“‘Onyegin, I won’t conceal it; I madly love Tatiana. . . .'”

By the time they reached the house, Yegor Semyonitch had got up. Kovrin did not feel sleepy; he talked to the old man and went to the garden with him. Yegor Semyonitch was a tall, broad-shouldered, corpulent man, and he suffered from asthma, yet he walked so fast that it was hard work to hurry after him. He had an extremely preoccupied air; he was always hurrying somewhere, with an expression that suggested that if he were one minute late all would be ruined!

“Here is a business, brother . . .” he began, standing still to take breath. “On the surface of the ground, as you see, is frost; but if you raise the thermometer on a stick fourteen feet above the ground, there it is warm. . . . Why is that?”

“I really don’t know,” said Kovrin, and he laughed.

“H’m! . . . One can’t know everything, of course. . . . However large the intellect may be, you can’t find room for everything in it. I suppose you still go in chiefly for philosophy?”

“Yes, I lecture in psychology; I am working at philosophy in general.”

“And it does not bore you?”

“On the contrary, it’s all I live for.”

“Well, God bless you! . . .” said Yegor Semyonitch, meditatively stroking his grey whiskers. “God bless you! . . . I am delighted about you . . . delighted, my boy. . . .”

But suddenly he listened, and, with a terrible face, ran off and quickly disappeared behind the trees in a cloud of smoke.

“Who tied this horse to an apple-tree?” Kovrin heard his despairing, heart-rending cry. “Who is the low scoundrel who has dared to tie this horse to an apple-tree? My God, my God! They have ruined everything; they have spoilt everything; they have done everything filthy, horrible, and abominable. The orchard’s done for, the orchard’s ruined. My God!”

When he came back to Kovrin, his face looked exhausted and mortified.

“What is one to do with these accursed people?” he said in a tearful voice, flinging up his hands. “Styopka was carting dung at night, and tied the horse to an apple-tree! He twisted the reins round it, the rascal, as tightly as he could, so that the bark is rubbed off in three places. What do you think of that! I spoke to him and he stands like a post and only blinks his eyes. Hanging is too good for him.”

Growing calmer, he embraced Kovrin and kissed him on the cheek.

“Well, God bless you! . . . God bless you! . . .” he muttered. “I am very glad you have come. Unutterably glad. . . . Thank you.”

Then, with the same rapid step and preoccupied face, he made the round of the whole garden, and showed his former ward all his greenhouses and hot-houses, his covered-in garden, and two apiaries which he called the marvel of our century.

While they were walking the sun rose, flooding the garden with brilliant light. It grew warm. Foreseeing a long, bright, cheerful day, Kovrin recollected that it was only the beginning of May, and that he had before him a whole summer as bright, cheerful, and long; and suddenly there stirred in his bosom a joyous, youthful feeling, such as he used to experience in his childhood, running about in that garden. And he hugged the old man and kissed him affectionately. Both of them, feeling touched, went indoors and drank tea out of old-fashioned china cups, with cream and satisfying krendels made with milk and eggs; and these trifles reminded Kovrin again of his childhood and boyhood. The delightful present was blended with the impressions of the past that stirred within him; there was a tightness at his heart; yet he was happy.