第31页 / 共2288页

Stepan Arkadyevitch could be calm when he thought of his wife, he

could hope that she would come round, as Matvey expressed it, and

could quietly go on reading his paper and drinking his coffee;

but when he saw her tortured, suffering face, heard the tone of

her voice, submissive to fate and full of despair, there was a

catch in his breath and a lump in his throat, and his eyes began

to shine with tears.

"My God! what have I done? Dolly! For God's sake!... You

know...." He could not go on; there was a sob in his throat.

She shut the bureau with a slam, and glanced at him.

"Dolly, what can I say?... One thing: forgive.... Remember,

cannot nine years of my life atone for an instant...."

She dropped her eyes and listened, expecting what he would say,

as it were beseeching him in some way or other to make her

believe differently.