" "But why do you expect that he will leave us anything?" "Ah, my dear! He is so rich, and we are so poor!" "Well, that is hardly a sufficient reason, Mamma..." "Oh, Heaven! How ill he is!" exclaimed the mother.

After Anna Mikhaylovna had driven off with her son to visit Count Cyril Vladimirovich Bezukhov, Countess Rostova sat for a long time all alone applying her handkerchief to her eyes.

At last she rang.

"What is the matter with you, my dear?" she said crossly to the maid who kept her waiting some minutes.

" Don't you wish to serve me? Then I'll find you another place.