But on her arrival in Petersburg she was suddenly made distinctly aware of her present position in society, and she grasped the fact that to arrange this meeting was no easy matter.

She had now been two days in Petersburg.

The thought of her son never left her for a single instant, but she had not yet seen him.

To go straight to the house, where she might meet Alexey Alexandrovitch, that she felt she had no right to do.