'Choke yourself, you devil!' the other said, hoarsely.
At that moment Maria Pablovna entered the corridor.
'You cannot talk here,' she said. 'Walk in here; only Verotchka is there.' And she opened the door of a tiny cell, evidently intended for solitary confinement, and now at the disposal of the political prisoners. On one of the bunks lay Vera Efremovna, with her head covered.
'She is ill and asleep; she cannot hear you, and I will go,' said Maria Pablovna.
'On the contrary, stay here,' said Simonson. 'I keep nothing secret, especially from you.'
'Very well,' said Maria Pablovna, and childishly moving her whole body from side to side, and thus getting into a snug corner of the bunks, she prepared to listen, at the same time looking somewhere in the distance with her beautiful, sheepish eyes.
'Well, then, knowing your relations toward Catherine Michaelovna, I consider it my duty to let you know my relations to her.'
'Well, go on,' said Nekhludoff, involuntarily admiring Simonson's simplicity and straightforwardness.
'I wished to tell you that I would like to marry Catherine Michaelovna——'
'Remarkable!' exclaimed Maria Pablovna, fixing her gaze on Simonson.
'And I have decided to ask her to be my wife,' continued Simonson.
'What, then, can I do? It depends on her,' said Nekhludoff.
'Yes; but she would not decide the matter without you.'
'Why?'
'Because, while the question of your relations remains undecided, she cannot choose.'
'On my part the question is definitely decided. I only wished to do that which I considered it my duty to do, and also to relieve her condition, but in no case did I intend to influence her choice.'
'Yes; but she does not wish your sacrifice.'
'There is no sacrifice.'
'And I also know that her decision is irrevocable.'
'Why, then, talk to me?' said Nekhludoff.
'It is necessary for her that you should also approve of it.'
'I can only say that I am not free, but she is free to do what she wishes.'
Simonson began to ponder.
'Very well, I will tell her so. Do not think that I am in love with her,' he continued. 'I admire her as a good, rare person who has suffered much. I wish nothing from her, but I would very much like to help her, to relieve her ——'
Simonson's trembling voice surprised Nekhludoff.
'To relieve her condition,' continued Simonson. 'If she does not wish to accept your help, let her accept mine. If she consented, I would ask permission to join her in prison. Four years is not an eternity. I would live near her, and perhaps lighten her fate——' His emotion again compelled him to stop.
'What can I say?' said Nekhludoff. 'I am glad that she has found such a protector.'
'That is just what I wanted to know,' continued Simonson. 'I wished to know whether you, loving her and seeking her good, could approve of her marrying me?'
'Oh, yes,' Nekhludoff answered, decisively.
'It is all for her; all I wish is that that woman, who had suffered so much, should have some rest,' said Simonson, with a childlike gentleness that no one would expect from a man of such gloomy aspect.
Simonson rose, took Nekhludoff's hand, smiled bashfully and embraced him.
'Well, I will so tell her,' he said, and left the room.
CHAPTER VII.
'What do you think of him?' said Maria Pablovna. 'In love, and earnestly in love! I never thought that Vladimir Simonson could fall in love in such a very stupid, childish fashion. It is remarkable, and to tell the truth, sad,' she concluded, sighing.
'But Katia? How do you think she will take it?' asked Nekhludoff.
'She?' Maria Pablovna stopped, evidently desiring to give a precise answer. 'She? You see, notwithstanding her past, she is naturally of a most moral character. And her feelings are so refined. She loves you—very much so —and is happy to be able to do you the negative good of not binding you to herself. Marriage with you would be a dreadful fall to her, worse than all her past. For this reason she would never consent to it. At the same time, your presence perplexes her.'
'Ought I then to disappear?' asked Nekhludoff.
Maria Pablovna smiled in her pleasant, childish way.
'Yes, partly.'
'How can I partly disappear?'
'I take it back. But I will tell you that she probably sees the absurdity of that exalted love of his (he has not spoken to her about it), is flattered by it, and fears it. You know that I am not competent in these matters, but I think that his love is that of the ordinary man, although it is masked. He says that it rouses his energy and that it is a platonic love; but it has nothing but nastiness for its basis.'
'But what am I to do?' asked Nekhludoff.
'I think it is best that you have a talk with her. It is always better to make everything clear. Shall I call her?' said Maria Pablovna.
'If you please,' answered Nekhludoff, and Maria Pablovna went out.
Nekhludoff was seized with a strange feeling when, alone in the small cell, he listened to the quiet breathing of Vera Efremovna, interrupted by an occasional moan, and the constant din coming from the cells of the convicts.
That which Simonson had told him freed him from his self-imposed obligation, which, in a moment of weakness, seemed to him burdensome and dreadful; and yet it was not only unpleasant, but painful. The offer of Simonson destroyed the exclusiveness of his act, minimized in his own and other people's eyes the value of the sacrifice he was making. If such a good man as Simonson, who was under no obligation to her, wished to join his fate to hers, then his own sacrifice was no longer so important. Maybe there was also the ordinary feeling of jealousy; he was so used to her love that he could not think that she was capable of loving any one else. Besides, his plans were now shattered, especially the plan of living near her while she served her sentence. If she married Simonson, his presence was no longer necessary, and that required a rearrangement of his projects. He could scarcely collect his thoughts, when Katiousha entered the cell.
With quick step she approached him.
'Maria Pablovna sent me,' she said, stopping near him.
'Yes, I would like to talk with you. Take a seat. Vladimir Ivanovitch spoke to me.'
She seated herself, crossed her hands on her knees, and seemed calm. But as soon as Nekhludoff pronounced Simonson's name, her face turned a purple color.
'What did he tell you?' she asked.
'He told me that he wishes to marry you.'
Her face suddenly became wrinkled, evidencing suffering, but she remained silent, only looking at the floor.
'He asked my consent or advice. I told him that it all rests with you; that you must decide.'
'Oh, what is it all for?' she said, and looked at Nekhludoff with that squinting glance that always peculiarly affected him. For a few seconds they looked silently at each other. That glance was significant to both.
'You must decide,' repeated Nekhludoff.
'Decide what?' she said. 'It has all been decided long ago. It is you who must decide whether you will accept the offer of Vladimir Ivanovitch,' she continued, frowning.
'But if a pardon should come?' said Nekhludoff.
'Oh, leave me alone. It is useless to talk any more,' she answered, and, rising, left the cell.
Gaining the street, Nekhludoff stopped, and, expanding his chest, drew in the frosty air.
The following morning a soldier brought him a note from Maria Pablovna, in which she said that Kryltzoff's condition was worse than they thought it to be.
