“If Márya is already persuading me to forgive, it means that I ought long ago to have punished him,” he thought. And giving her no further reply, he began thinking of the glad vindictive moment when he would meet Kurágin who he knew was now in the army.

Princess Márya begged him to stay one day more, saying that she knew how unhappy her father would be if Andréy left without being reconciled to him, but Prince Andréy replied that he would probably soon be back again from the army and would certainly write to his father, but that the longer he stayed now the more embittered their differences would become.

“Goodbye, André! Remember that misfortunes come from God, and men are never to blame,” were the last words he heard from his sister when he took leave of her.