The next morning I returned to L. I persuaded myself that I should take
the greatest pleasure in seeing Gaguine, but the fact is that I was
secretly impelled by the desire of knowing how Annouchka would
behave,--if she would act as strangely as the night before. I found them
both in the parlor; and a singular thing,--but perhaps because I had
been dreaming so long of Russia,--Annouchka seemed to me entirely
Russian. I found in her the air of a young girl of the people, almost
that of one of the servants. She wore quite an old dress, her hair was
drawn back behind her ears, and, seated near the window, she was quietly
working at her embroidery, as if she had never done anything else in her
life. Her eyes fixed upon her work, she scarcely spoke, and her features
had an expression so dull, so commonplace, that I was involuntarily
reminded of Macha and Katia[2] at home. To complete the resemblance she
began to hum the air,--