Pagina 780 van 2288

"No," he said to himself, "however good that life of simplicity

and toil may be, I cannot go back to it. I love her."

Chapter 13

None but those who were most intimate with Alexey Alexandrovitch

knew that, while on the surface the coldest and most reasonable

of men, he had one weakness quite opposed to the general trend of

his character. Alexey Alexandrovitch could not hear or see a

child or woman crying without being moved. The sight of tears

threw him into a state of nervous agitation, and he utterly lost

all power of reflection. The chief secretary of his department

and his private secretary were aware of this, and used to warn

women who came with petitions on no account to give way to tears,

if they did not want to ruin their chances. "He will get angry,

and will not listen to you," they used to say. And as a fact, in

such cases the emotional disturbance set up in Alexey

Alexandrovitch by the sight of tears found expression in hasty

anger. "I can do nothing. Kindly leave the room!" he would

commonly cry in such cases.