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THE RING.
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Kudrin also repaired to Moskwa, as he himself declared, merely to amuse himself; but on the very first Sunday he attended mass, and that at the church of St. Wassilij, which the major's lady preferred to all the rest. There he had the happiness to see Glafira, accompanied by her nurse, without being observed by either of them.

The good creature still continued to be faithfully devoted to him. Kudrin received many a useful hint from her, and occasionally found opportunities of speaking to her. Though Glafira was already affianced, and the last spark of hope was extinguished in Kudrin's heart, still she urged many reasons why he ought not to despair. The young man cheerfully placed himself under the guidance of the nurse, and listened with pleasure to her consolations—consolations which seldom fail to soothe the unhappy. The Christmas holidays commenced: they were formerly the most delightful season of the year, awaited with equal impatience by the young of both sexes—a season which, by the variety of its amusements, occupied children, as well as diverted the parents, and which (thanks to the present illumination!) now pass off with as little ado as any other holidays. I shall not say a word about the capitals of governments, where every thing Russian has long been banished from social life; there the ancient Christmas sports are happily compensated

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