Of late he had exhibited a new trait that tormented Princess Márya more than anything else; this was his ever-increasing intimacy with Mademoiselle Bourienne. The idea that at the first moment of receiving the news of his son’s intentions had occurred to him in jest⁠—that if Andréy got married he himself would marry Bourienne⁠—had evidently pleased him, and latterly he had persistently, and as it seemed to Princess Márya merely to offend her, shown special endearments to the companion and expressed his dissatisfaction with his daughter by demonstrations of love of Bourienne.