“ Then you were there yesterday?”
“ N-no: I have not been these three last days.”
“ It is a pity you have taken too much wine, Lebedeff I want to ask you something... but...”
“ All right! all right! I am not drunk,” replied the clerk, preparing to listen.
“ Tell me, how was she when you left her?”
“ She is a woman who is seeking...”
“ Seeking?”
“ She seems always to be searching about, as if she had lost something. The mere idea of her coming marriage disgusts her; she looks on it as an insult. She cares as much for him as for a piece of orange-peel—not more. Yet I am much mistaken if she does not look on him with fear and trembling. She forbids his name to be mentioned before her, and they only meet when unavoidable. He understands, well enough! But it must be gone t
