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She was calmer now, and her face lighted up with a tender smile.

"Leave your husband and make our life one."

"It is one as it is," she answered, scarcely audibly.

"Yes, but altogether; altogether."

"But how, Alexey, tell me how?" she said in melancholy mockery at

the hopelessness of her own position. "Is there any way out of

such a position? Am I not the wife of my husband?"

"There is a way out of every position. We must take our line," he

said. "Anything's better than the position in which you're

living. Of course, I see how you torture yourself over

everything-the world and your son and your husband."

"Oh, not over my husband," she said, with a quiet smile. "I don't

know him, I don't think of him. He doesn't exist."

"You're not speaking sincerely. I know you. You worry about him

too."

"Oh, he doesn't even know," she said, and suddenly a hot flush

came over her face; her cheeks, her brow, her neck crimsoned, and

tears of shame came into her eyes. "But we won't talk of him."

Chapter 23