XVI

One of the means was continual occupation; another was intense physical work and fasting; a third was imagining to himself the shame that would fall upon him when everybody knew of it⁠—his wife, his mother-in-law, and the folk around. He did all this and it seemed to him that he was conquering, but midday came⁠—the hour of their former meetings and the hour when he had met her carrying the grass⁠—and he went to the forest. Thus five days of torment passed. He only saw her from a distance, and did not once encounter her.

Liza was gradually recovering, she could move about and was only uneasy at the change that had taken place in her husband, which she did not understand.

Varvára Alexéevna had gone away for a while, and the only visitor was Eugène’s uncle. Mary Pávlovna was as usual at home.