Boris would have spared his wife the knowledge of this miserable
relapse, in her present sorrow, but the information soon reached
her in other ways. She saw the necessity of regaining, by a
powerful effort, what she had lost. She therefore took her
accustomed place at the table, and resumed her inspection of
household matters. Prince Alexis, as if determined to cast off the
yoke which her beauty and gentleness had laid upon him, avoided
looking at her face or speaking to her, as much as possible: when
he did so, his manner was cold and unfriendly. During her few days
of sad retirement he had brought back the bear Razboi and the idiot
to his table, and vodki was habitually poured out to him and his
favorite serfs in such a measure that the nights became hideous
with drunken tumult.
The Princess Helena felt that her beauty no longer possessed the
potency of its first surprise. It must now be a contest of nature
with nature, spiritual with animal power. The struggle would be
perilous, she foresaw, but she did not shrink; she rather sought
the earliest occasion to provoke it.
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