not agitated him so strongly. It was hard to give up this Paula; but
there was no help for it. To-morrow he must do his best to establish
their intercourse on a friendly and fraternal footing; for he could have
no hope that she would be content to accept his love only, like the
gentle Heliodora, who was quite her equal in birth. Life would have been
fair, unutterably fair, with this splendid creature by his side! If only
he could take her to the Capital he felt sure that all the world would
stand still to turn round and gaze at her. And if she loved him--if she
met him open-armed.... Oh, why had spiteful fate made her a Melchite?
But then, alas, alas! There must surely be something wrong with her
nature and temper; would she not otherwise have been able in two years to
gain the love, instead of the dislike, of his excellent and fond mother?
--Well, after all, it was best so; but Paula's image haunted him
nevertheless and spoilt his sleep, and his longing for her was not
to be stilled.

Neforis, meanwhile, did not return at once to her husband but went to
find Paula. This business must be settled on all sides and at once.
If she could have believed that her victory would give the invalid
unqualified pleasure she would have hastened to him with the good news,
for she knew no higher joy than to procure him a moment's happiness; but
the Mukaukas had agreed to her choice very reluctantly. Katharina seemed
to him too small and childish for his noble son, whose mental superiority
had been revealed to him unmistakably and undeniably, in many long
discussions since his return, to the delight of his father's heart.
"The water-wagtail," though he wished her every happiness, did not
satisfy him for Orion. To him, the father, Paula would have been a well-
beloved daughter-in-law, and he had often found pleasure in picturing her
by Orion's side. But she was a Melchite; he knew too how ill-affected
his wife was towards her, so he kept his wish locked in his own breast in