XIV
Now Viérotchka has been sitting long, long, on the appointed bench, and how often did her heart beat quickly, quickly, when she saw an army cap coming around the corner. “Ah! there he is; my friend!” She jumped up, and ran to meet him.
Maybe he would have regained his courage by the time he had reached the bench; but he was taken unawares, and his face was seen sooner than he anticipated, and so he was caught with a gloomy expression.
“Failure?”
“A failure, my friend.”
“But it seemed to be so certain. How did it come to be a failure? What was the reason, my dear?”
“Let us go home, my friend; I will go with you. We’ll talk it over. I will tell you in a few words why it failed: but now let me think; I cannot collect my thoughts yet. We must think up some other plan. Let us not despair; we shall find something.”
These last words gave him little hope, but not much.
“Tell me right away; I can’t endure to wait. You say, ‘Think up some other plan’; then it means that our former plans are impracticable. Can’t I be a governess? How poor I am! how unhappy I am!”
“Why deceive you? ’Tis true, you cannot; I wanted to tell you so. But patience, my dear, patience! Be brave. Keep up good heart; whoever keeps up good heart succeeds!”
“Akh! my dear, I keep up good heart, but how hard it is!”
They walked for a few moments in silence. What is it? Why, yes, she is carrying something in her hand under her cloak!
“My dear, you are carrying something; here, let me take it.”
“No, no, it’s not necessary. It isn’t heavy; it’s nothing.”
Again they go in silence. They go a long way.
“And to think I did not go to sleep till two o’clock out of joy, my friend; and when I went to sleep, what a dream I had! It seemed to me as though I were set free from a stifling cellar, as though I were paralyzed and then cured, and ran out into the field, and so many young girls ran out with me, who, like myself, were set free from stifling cellars, were cured of paralysis; and we were so happy, so happy to run about in the open field! The dream has not been realized; and I did so think that I should not have to go home again!”
“My dear, let me carry your bundle for you, since now I know what it is.”
Again they walk in silence. Long they walk in perfect silence.
“My dear, you see as that lady and I tallied the matter over, we came to this conclusion: you cannot leave home without Marya Alekséyevna’s consent. ’Tis impossible—no, no, take my arm; I am afraid you are ill!”
“No, it’s nothing; only it’s stifling under this veil.” She drew back the veil. “Now it’s all right; I feel better.”
“How pale she is!—No, my dear, don’t think about what I said. I did not express myself well. We’ll arrange everything all right.”
“How can we arrange things, my love? You say this only so as to console me. Nothing can be done!”
He has nothing to say. Again they walk in silence.
“How pale, how pale she is!—My dear, there is one way.”
“What way, my pet [milui]?”
“I will tell you, my dear; but only when you get a little calmer. You will have to decide about it deliberately.”
“Tell me now! I cannot get calm until I know.”
“No! now you are too much excited, my dear. Now you could not decide an important question. In a little while. Soon! Here’s the front door. Dō svidánya [goodbye], my dear. As soon as I see that you would give a deliberate answer, I’ll tell you.”
“When will that be?”
“Day after tomorrow, when I give the next lesson.”
“Too long!”
“I will call on purpose tomorrow.”
“No, sooner than that!”
“This evening.”
“No, I will not let you go! Come in with me now. You say I am not calm; you say I cannot decide. Very well, take dinner with us; you will see that I shall be calm. After dinner mámenka takes a nap, and we can talk.”
“But how can I come in? If we come in together, your mámenka’s suspicions will be awakened again!”
“Suspicions! what do I care? No, my dear, and for this very reason it would be better for you to come in. We may have been seen, for I walked with my veil up.”
“You are right.”
XV
Marya Alekséyevna was greatly surprised to see her daughter and Lopukhóf coming in together. She forthwith proceeded to subject them to the keenest inspection.
“I called to tell you, Marya Alekséyevna, that I have an engagement for day after tomorrow evening, and so I am going to give the lesson tomorrow instead. Permit me to sit down. I am very tired and unwell. I should like to rest.”
“Why, what’s the matter, Dmitri Sergéitch? Indeed, you look very bad!”
(“Is it a love-scrape, or did they meet by chance? If it were a love affair, he’d have been gay. Or can they have
