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"Anna, for God's sake don't speak like that!" he said gently.

"Perhaps I am mistaken, but believe me, what I say, I say as much

for myself as for you. I am your husband, and I love you."

For an instant her face fell, and the mocking gleam in her eyes

died away; but the word love threw her into revolt again. She

thought: "Love? Can he love? If he hadn't heard there was such a

thing as love, he would never have used the word. He doesn't even

know what love is."

"Alexey Alexandrovitch, really I don't understand," she said.

"Define what it is you find...."