Of course as the days went by the sparkle of Paul's joy subsided. An
infinite unrest took its place--a continual mad desire for further
news. Supposing she were ill, his darling one? Many times a day he read her
words; the pencil writing was certainly feeble and shaky--supposing--But he
refused to face any terrible picture. The letter had come on the 2d of
March; his son had been eleven days old then--two days and a half to
Vienna--that brought it to eight when the letter was posted--and from
whence had it come there? If he allowed two days more, say--she must have
written it only five or six days after the baby's birth.
Paul knew very little about such things, though he understood vaguely that
a woman might possibly be very ill even after then. But surely, if so, Anna
or Dmitry
