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"There are insults, Avdotya Romanovna, which no goodwill can make

us forget. There is a line in everything which it is dangerous to

overstep; and when it has been overstepped, there is no return."

"That wasn't what I was speaking of exactly, Pyotr Petrovitch,"

Dounia interrupted with some impatience. "Please understand that

our whole future depends now on whether all this is explained and

set right as soon as possible. I tell you frankly at the start

that I cannot look at it in any other light, and if you have the

least regard for me, all this business must be ended to-day,

however hard that may be. I repeat that if my brother is to blame

he will ask your forgiveness."