`Yes, I must go to the railway station, and if he's not there, then go there and catch him.' Anna looked at the railway timetable in the newspapers. An evening train went at two minutes past eight. `Yes, I shall be in time.' She gave orders for the other horses to be put in the carriage, and packed in a traveling bag the things needed for a few days. She knew she would never come back here again.

Among the plans that came into her head she vaguely determined that after what would happen at the station or at the Countess's house, she would go as far as the first town on the Nizhny-Novgorod railway and stop there.

Dinner was on the table; she went up, but the smell of the bread and cheese was enough to make her feel that all food was disgusting. She ordered the carriage and went out. The house threw a shadow now right across the street, but it was a bright evening and still warm in the sunshine. Annushka, who came down with her things, and Piotr, who put the things in the carriage, and the coachman, evidently out of humor, were all hateful to her, and irritated her by their words and actions.

`I don't want you, Piotr.'

`But how about the ticket?'

`Well, as you like, it doesn't matter,' she said crossly.

Piotr jumped on the box, and putting his arms akimbo, told the coachman to drive to the station.