" *Fruhstuck: breakfast.

"What is the matter with you, my darling? You look pale.

Oh, you are very pale!" said Princess Mary in alarm, running with her soft, ponderous steps up to her sister-in-law.

"Your excellency, should not Mary Bogdanovna be sent for?" said one of the maids who was present.

(Mary Bogdanovna was a midwife from the neighboring town, who had been at Bald Hills for the last fortnight.