CHAPTER XXIII.
The next morning the master of the house and his guest drank tea in the garden under an old time-tree.
"Master!" said Lavretsky among other things, "you will soon have to compose a triumphal cantata." "On what occasion ?" "For the nuptials of Mr.Panshin and Lisa.

Did you notice what attention he paid her yesterday?
It seems as though things were in a fair way with them already." "That will never be!" cried Lemm.
"Why ?" "Because it is impossible.

Though, indeed," he added after a short pause, "everything is possible in this world.

Especially here among you in Russia." "We will leave Russia out of the question for a time; but what do you find amiss in this match ?" "Everything is amiss, everything.

Lisaveta Mihalovna is a girl of high principles, serious, of lofty feelings, and he...