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Updated: June 18, 2025
"Oh, my brother, my poor brother!" "You can die with him if you like," said Vaninka, accompanying the proposal with a smile which showed she would not have been sorry if Annouschka had carried sisterly affection to that length. "But look at the fire, madam the fire!"
"True," murmured Vaninka in a strange tone, "I must go to Court this evening; to stay away would arouse suspicion. Oh, my God! my God!" "Help me, my lady," said Annouschka; "I am not strong enough alone."
Vaninka had only five months more to spend under her father's roof. Nothing more could be said: in Russia the emperor's wish is an order, and from the moment that it is expressed, no subject would oppose it, even in thought. However, the refusal had imprinted such despair on the young man's face, that the general, touched by his silent and resigned sorrow, held out his arms to him.
"And he consented to leave you? He is a good and noble young man, who shall always be under my protection wherever he goes. Oh, if my word had not been given, I love him so much that, supposing you did not dislike him, I should have given him your hand." "And you cannot recall your promise?" asked Vaninka. "Impossible," said the general. "Well, then, I submit to my father's will," said Vaninka.
Although the young man had only passed through the general's house on his way to the barracks, which were situated in the Litenoi quarter, he had remained there long enough for him to have seen Vaninka, and she had produced a great impression upon him.
The day for the Communion came; the church of St. Simeon was crowded. Vaninka came to kneel at the railing of the choir. Behind her was her father and his aides-de-camp, and behind them their servants. Arina was also in the church with her mother.
"We can do nothing this morning," said Annouschka, drawing back the window curtains. "Look, the dawn is breaking." "But what can we do with the body of this unhappy man?" cried Vaninka. "It must remain hidden where it is all day, and this evening, while you are at the Court entertainment, my brother shall remove it."
"How can that be?" said the general: "he only left me at ten o'clock." "And he left me at midnight," said Vaninka. "Ah!" said the general, drawing a deep breath of relief, "you are a noble girl, Vaninka, and I grant you what you ask-two years more. But remember it is the emperor who has decided upon this marriage."
Foedor uttered a cry, for in the young girl's knit brows and tightly compressed lips there was so much resolution that he understood that they might break this child but that they would not bend her. But Foedor's heart was too much in harmony with the plan Vaninka had proposed; his objections once removed, he did not seek fresh ones.
"Nobody knows where Foedor is," murmured Vaninka in a hollow voice; "nobody but God, nobody!" "What!" said the general, "he has sent you no news since the day he left?" Vaninka shook her head in denial. She was so heart-broken that she could not speak. The general in his turn became gloomy. "Do you fear some misfortune, then?" said he.
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