And going once again over the conditions inseparable from a duel, a divorce, a separation, and once again rejecting them, Alexey Alexandrovitch felt convinced that there was only one solution,--to keep her with him, concealing what had happened from the world, and using every measure in his power to break off the intrigue, and still more--though this he did not admit to himself--to punish her.

"I must inform her of my conclusion, that thinking over the terrible position in which she has placed her family, all other solutions will be worse for both sides than an external _status quo_, and that such I agree to retain, on the strict condition of obedience on her part to my wishes, that is to say, cessation of all intercourse with her lover.

" When this decision had been finally adopted, another weighty consideration occurred to Alexey Alexandrovitch in support of it.

" By such a course only shall I be acting in accordance with the dictates of religion," he told himself.