Chapter 6: April 25th: My Dearest Makar Alexievitch

April 25th: My Dearest Makar Alexievitch April 25th. My dearest Makar Alexievitch—Today I met my cousin Sasha. To see her going to wrack and ruin shocked me terribly. Moreover, it has reached me, through a side wind, that she has been making inquiry for me, and dogging my footsteps, under the pretext that she wishes to pardon me, to forget the past, and to renew our acquaintance. Well, among other things she told me that, whereas you are not a kinsman of mine, that she is my nearest rela…