Vasya's Pity

Prescovia Fiderovna came in, self-satisfied, but yet with a rather guilty air. She sat down and asked how he was only for the sake of asking; knowing that there was nothing to learn about it. Then went on to what she really wanted to say: Helen and their daughter were going, as well as Petriciev, the examining magistrate, their daughter's fiancée. Ivan Illyich concealed his vexation when he remembered that he had himself insisted on their securing a box because it would be an instructive and aesthetic pleasure for the children. His son had always seemed pathetic to him, and now it was dreadful to see the boy