Suddenly a carriage rumbled at the entrance, and some commotion at a distance in the house made us aware of the lady's return.

We all leapt up from our easy chairs, but again a surprise awaited us; we heard the noise of many footsteps, so our hostess must have returned not alone, and this certainly was rather strange, since she had fixed that time herself.

Finally, we heard some one come in with strange rapidity as though running, in a way that Varvara Petrovna could not have come in.

And, all at once she almost flew into the room, panting and extremely agitated.

After her a little later and much more quickly Lizaveta Nikolaevna came in, and with her, hand in hand, Marya Timofyevna Lebyadkin! If I had seen this in my dreams, even then I should not have believed it.
To explain their utterly unexpected appearance, I must go back an hour and describe more in detail an extraordinary adventure which had befallen Varvara Petrovna in church.
In the first place almost the whole town, that is, of course, all of the upper stratum of society, were assembled in the cathedral.