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DIAMONDS TO SIT ON
how he would be able to go on living in the empty, untidy house. He felt that with the death of his mother-in-law all the little comforts which he had created with such difficulty after the revolution would disappear. The revolution had swept away aU his lavish comforts and habits. ‘ Get married,’ he thought to himself; ‘ who shah I marry ? Shall I marry the niece of the head of the mihtary police ? Or shall I have a housekeeper ? No, that will cost too much.’ The future seemed black to him, and feeling dis gusted with everything in general he turned back into the house. Clavdia Ivanovna had stopped raving. She was lying propped up on her pillows, and as Hippolyte came into the bedroom she looked at him quite sensibly and, as he thought, rather sternly. ' Hippolyte,’ she whispered very distinctly, ‘ come and sit down by my side. I have got something to tell you.’ Hippolyte sat down rather unwillingly and stared at his mother-in-law’s thin face. He tried to smile and say something encouraging, but it was a wry smile, and he could not find anything comforting to say. He mumbled something unintelligibly.
- Hippolyte,’ she said, ‘ do you remember our
drawing-room furniture ? ’ ‘ Which furniture ? ’ asked Hippolyte quietly. ‘ The furniture which was upholstered in English chintz.’ ‘ Oh I you mean in the old home ? ’ ‘ Yes, in Stargorod.’ ‘Yes, I remember it very well. There was a sofa, a dozen chairs, and a round table on six legs. It was magnificent furniture, made by Gambs. But why have you suddenly thought of it ? ’ She could not answer. Her face was beginning to turn grey. Hippolyte caught his breath. He could see the drawing-room in his old home, the walnut
