صفحة 402 من 2288

She looked at him so simply, so brightly, that anyone who did not

know her as her husband knew her could not have noticed anything

unnatural, either in the sound or the sense of her words. But to

him, knowing her, knowing that whenever he went to bed five

minutes later than usual, she noticed it, and asked him the

reason; to him, knowing that every joy, every pleasure and pain

that she felt she communicated to him at once; to him, now to see

that she did not care to notice his state of mind, that she did

not care to say a word about herself, meant a great deal. He saw

that the inmost recesses of her soul, that had always hitherto

lain open before him, were closed against him. More than that, he

saw from her tone that she was not even perturbed at that, but as

it were said straight out to him: "Yes, it's shut up, and so it

must be, and will be in future." Now he experienced a feeling

such as a man might have, returning home and finding his own

house locked up.