Hm..." muttered the old prince to himself, finishing what he was writing.

"I'll do it." He signed with a flourish and suddenly turning to his son began to laugh.
"It's a bad business, eh ?" "What is bad, Father ?" "The wife!" said the old prince, briefly and significantly.
"I don't understand!" said Prince Andrew.
"No, it can't be helped, lad," said the prince.

"They're all like that; one can't unmarry.

Don't be afraid; I won't tell anyone, but you know it yourself." He seized his son by the hand with small bony fingers, shook it, looked straight into his son's face with keen eyes which seemed to see through him, and again laughed his frigid laugh.
The son sighed, thus admitting that his father had understood him.

The old man continued to fold and seal his letter, snatching up and throwing down the wax, the seal, and the paper, with his accustomed rapidity.
"What's to be done?
She's pretty! I will do everything.