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Nekhludoff went to visit his aunts because their estate lay near

the road he had to travel in order to join his regione forward, because they had very warmly asked him to come,

and especially because he wanted to see Katusha Perhaps in his

heart he had already forainst Katusha

which his now uncontrolled anie this as his intention, but only wished to go

back to the spot where he had been so happy, to see his rather

funny, but dear, kind-hearted old aunts, who always, without his

noticing it, surrounded him with an atmosphere of love and

admiration, and to see sweet Katusha, of whom he had retained so

pleasant a memory

He arrived at the end of March, on Good Friday, after the thaw

had set in It was pouring with rain so that he had not a dry

thread on hiorous and

full of spirits, as always at that tiht, as he drove into the familiar, old-fashioned

courtyard, surrounded by a low brick wall, and now filled with

snow off the roofs

He expected she would coe bells

but she did not Two bare-footed women with pails and tucked-up

skirts, who had evidently been scrubbing the floors, came out of