midday
My father has promised to give me Dubetchnya and I shall do exactly what I like with it . '' Flushed , excited to tears , and laughing , she dreamed aloud how she would live at Dubetchnya , and what an interesting life it would be ! I envied her . March was near , the days were growing longer and longer , and on bright sunny days water dripped from the roofs at midday , and there was a fragrance of spring ; I , too , longed for the country . And when she said that she should move to Dubetchnya , I realized vividly that I should remain in the town alone , and I felt that I envied her with her cupboard of books and her agriculture . I knew nothing of work on the land , and did not like it , and I should have liked to have told her that work on the land was slavish toil , but I remembered that something similar had been said more than once by my father , and I held my tongue . Lent began .