Could you send Seryozha to me, or should I come to the house at some fixed hour, or will you let me know when and where I could see him away from home? I do not anticipate a refusal, knowing the magnanimity of him with whom it rests.

You cannot conceive the craving I have to see him, and so cannot conceive the gratitude your help will arouse in me.

Anna" Everything in this letter exasperated Countess Lidia Ivanovna: its contents and the allusion to magnanimity, and especially its free and easy--as she considered--tone.