Explore "A House of Gentlefolk" by Ivan Turgenev on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
The day of the arrival of Lavretsky's wife at the town of O -- -- , a sorrowful day for him, and been also a day of misery for Lisa. She had not had time to go downstairs and say good morning to her mother, when the tramp of hoofs was heard under the window, and with a secret dismay she saw Panshin riding into the courtyard. "He has come so early for a final explanation," she thought, and she was not mistaken. After a turn in the drawing-room, he suggested that she should go with him into the garden, and then asked her for the decision of his fate. Lisa summoned up all her courage and told him that she could not be his wife. He heard her to the end, standing on one side of her and pulling his hat down over his forehead; courteously, but in a changed voice, he asked her, "Was this her last word, and had he given her any ground for such a change in her views? " -- then pressed his hand to his eyes, sighed softly and abruptly, and took his hand away from his face again.
"I did not want to go along the beaten track," he said huskily. "I wanted to choose a wife according to the dictates of my heart; but it seems this was not to be. Farewell, fond dream! " He made Lisa a profound bow, and went back into the house.