The constable shook his head.  “I wonder whether that would not involve us in trouble?”

“I do it upon my own responsibility.  I will not mention your name.”

“Is not she a kind woman,” thought the constable.  “Very kind-hearted, to be sure.  If my wife had such a heart, our life would be a paradise, instead of what it is now.”  And he wrote the telegram,—­“To his Imperial Majesty, the Emperor.  Your Majesty’s loyal subject, the widow of Peter Nikolaevich Sventizky, murdered by the peasants, throws herself at the sacred feet (this sentence, when he wrote it down, pleased the constable himself most of all) of your Imperial Majesty, and implores you to grant an amnesty to the peasants so and so, from such a province, district, and village, who have been sentenced to death.”

The telegram was sent by the constable himself, and Natalia Ivanovna felt relieved and happy.  She had a feeling that since she, the widow of the murdered man, had forgiven the murderers, and was applying for an amnesty, the Czar could not possibly refuse it.

XI

Lisa Eropkin lived in a state of continual excitement.  The longer she lived a true Christian life as it had been revealed to her, the more convinced she became that it was the right way, and her heart was full of joy.

She had two immediate aims before her.  The one was to convert Mahin; or, as she put it to herself, to arouse his true nature, which was good and kind.  She loved him, and the light of her love revealed the divine element in his soul which is at the bottom of all souls.  But, further, she saw in him an exceptionally kind and tender heart, as well as a noble mind.  Her other aim was to abandon her riches.  She had first thought of giving away what she possessed in order to test Mahin; but afterwards she wanted to do so for her own sake, for the sake of her own soul.  She began by simply giving money to any one who wanted it.  But her father stopped that; besides which, she felt disgusted at the crowd of supplicants who personally, and by letters, besieged her with demands for money.  Then she resolved to apply to an old man, known to be a saint by his life, and to give him her money to dispose of in the way he thought best.  Her father got angry with her when he heard about it.  During a violent altercation he called her mad, a raving lunatic, and said he would take measures to prevent her from doing injury to herself.

Her father’s irritation proved contagious.  Losing all control over herself, and sobbing with rage, she behaved with the greatest impertinence to her father, calling him a tyrant and a miser.

Then she asked his forgiveness.  He said he did not mind what she said; but she saw plainly that he was offended, and in his heart did not forgive her.  She did not feel inclined to tell Mahin about her quarrel with her father; as to her sister, she was very cold to Lisa, being jealous of Mahin’s love for her.