“Marry, marry, my boy!⁠ ⁠… A good family!⁠ ⁠… Clever people, eh? Rich, eh? Yes, a nice stepmother Nikolúshka will have! Write and tell him that he may marry tomorrow if he likes. She will be Nikolúshka’s stepmother and I’ll marry Bourienne!⁠ ⁠… Ha, ha, ha! He mustn’t be without a stepmother either! Only one thing, no more women are wanted in my house⁠—let him marry and live by himself. Perhaps you will go and live with him too?” he added, turning to Princess Márya. “Go in heaven’s name! Go out into the frost⁠ ⁠… the frost⁠ ⁠… the frost!”

After this outburst the prince did not speak any more about the matter. But repressed vexation at his son’s poor-spirited behavior found expression in his treatment of his daughter. To his former pretexts for irony a fresh one was now added⁠—allusions to stepmothers and amiabilities to Mademoiselle Bourienne.

“Why shouldn’t I marry her?” he asked his daughter. “She’ll make a splendid princess!”