determination which he himself did not expect, that he had no further
need of the house, and that he would dispense with her services. There
was a tacit understanding that the large house was kept up for his
contemplated marriage. The closing up of the house consequently had
some particular significance. Agrippina Petrovna looked at him with
surprise.

"I thank you very much, Agrippina Petrovna, for your solicitude in my
behalf, but I do not now need such a large house, or any of the
servants. If you wish to help me, then be so kind as to pack away the
things as you used to do in mamma's lifetime. Natasha will dispose of
them when she arrives." Natasha was Nekhludoff's sister.

Agrippina Petrovna shook her head.

"Dispose of them? Why, they will be needed," she said.

"No, they will not, Agrippina Petrovna--they will positively not be
needed," said Nekhludoff, answering what she meant by shaking his
head. "Please tell Kornei that his salary will be paid for two months
in advance, but that I do not need him."

"You are wrong in doing this, Dmitri Ivanovich," she said. "You will
need a house even if you go abroad."

"You misunderstand me, Agrippina Petrovna. I will not go abroad, and
if I do go, it will be to an entirely different place."

His face suddenly turned a purple color.