‘‘StillIamnotthesameasamother，’’saidCountessMarya。‘‘Ifeelthatit’snotthesame，anditworriesme。He’sawonderfulboy;butIamawfullyafraidforhim。Companionshipwillbegoodforhim。’’
‘‘Oh，well，it’snotforlong;nextsummerIshalltakehimtoPetersburg，’’saidNikolay。‘‘Yes，Pierrealwayswas，andalwayswillbe，adreamer，’’hewenton，returningtothediscussioninthestudy，whichhadevidentlyworkedonhisfeelings。‘‘Why，whatconcernisallthatofmine—Araktcheev’smisdoings，andalltherestofit—whatconcernwasitofmine，whenatthetimeofourmarriageIhadsomanydebtsthattheyweregoingtoputmeinprison，andamotherwhocouldn’tseeitorunderstandit。Andthenyou，andthechildren，andmywork。It’snotformyownpleasureIamfrommorningtonightlookingafterthemen，orinthecounting-house。No，IknowImustworktocomfortmymother，repayyou，andnotleavemychildreninbeggary，asIwasleftmyself。’’
CountessMaryawantedtotellhimthatmandoesnotlivebybreadalone;thatheattachedtoomuchimportancetothiswork。Butsheknewthatshemustnotsaythis，andthatitwouldbeuseless。Sheonlytookhishandandkissedit。Heacceptedthisgestureonhiswife’spartasasignofassentandapprovalofhiswords，andafterafewmomentsofsilentthoughthewentonthinkingaloud。
‘‘Doyouknow，Marie，’’hesaid，‘‘IlyaMitrofanitch’’（thiswasastewardofhis）‘‘washereto-dayfromtheTambovestate，andhetellsmetheywillgiveeightythousandfortheforest。’’AndwithaneagerfaceNikolaybegantalkingofthepossibilityofbuyingOtradnoebackwithinaveryshorttime。‘‘Anothertenyearsoflife，andIshallleavethechildren…inacapitalposition。’’
CountessMaryalistenedtoherhusband，andunderstoodallhesaidtoher。Sheknewthatwhenhewasthusthinkingaloud，hewouldsometimesaskwhathehadbeensaying，andwasvexedwhenhenoticedshehadbeenthinkingofsomethingelse。Butshehadtomakeagreatefforttoattend，becauseshedidnotfeeltheslightestinterestinwhathewassayingtoher。Shelookedathim，andthoughshewouldnotexactlythinkofotherthings，herfeelingswereelsewhere。Shefeltasubmissive，tenderloveforthisman，whocouldneverunderstandallthatsheunderstood;andsheseemed，forthatveryreason，tolovehimthemore，withashadeofpassionatetenderness。Apartfromthatfeeling，whichabsorbedherentirely，andpreventedherfromfollowingthedetailsofherhusband’splans，thoughtskeptfloatingthroughherbrainthathadnothingincommonwithwhathewassaying。Shethoughtofhernephew（whatherhusbandhadsaidofhisexcitementoverPierre’stalkhadmadeagreatimpressiononher），andvarioustraitsofhistender，sensitivecharacterrosetohermind;andwhileshethoughtofhernephew，shethought，too，ofherownchildren。Shedidnotcomparehernephewwithherownchildren，butshecomparedherownfeelingforhim，andherfeelingforherchildren，andfelt，withsorrow，thatinherfeelingforNikolinkatherewassomethingwanting。