was ashamed of something.




CHAPTER III.


From Kusminskoie Nekhludoff went to Panovo, the estate left him by his
aunts, and where he had first seen Katiousha. He intended to dispose
of this land in the same manner as he disposed of the other, and also
desired to learn all there was known about Katiousha, and to find out
if it was true that their child had died.

As he sat at the window observing the familiar scenery of the now
somewhat neglected estate, he not only recalled, but felt himself as
he was fourteen years ago; fresh, pure and filled with the hope of
endless possibilities. But as it happens in a dream, he knew that that
was gone, and he became very sad.

Before breakfast he made his way to the hut of Matrena Kharina,
Katiousha's aunt, who was selling liquor surreptitiously, for
information about the child, but all he could learn from her was that
the child had died on the way to a Moskow asylum; in proof of which
the midwife had brought a certificate.

On his way back he entered the huts of some peasants, and inquired
about their mode of living. The same complaints of the paucity of
land, hunger and degradation he heard everywhere. He saw the same
pinched faces, threadbare homespuns, bare feet and bent shoulders.