" It was some time before Countess Lidia Ivanovna could sit down to read the letter.

Her excitement brought on an attack of asthma, to which she was subject.

When she had recovered her composure, she read the following letter in French: "Madame la Comtesse, "The Christian feelings with which your heart is filled give me the, I feel, unpardonable boldness to write to you.

I am miserable at being separated from my son.