plete mastery over himself. As for his wife, he saw
that she was not at all afraid of him, although she looked as if she
might at any moment go off into a fainting fit.

"Listen, Madame," at last he began, breathing with difficulty, and at
times setting his teeth hard. "There is no reason why we should be
hypocritical towards each other. I do not believe in your repentance;
but even if it were genuine, it would be impossible for me to rejoin
you and live with you again."

Varvara Pavlovna bit her lips and half closed her eyes. "That's
dislike," she thought. "It's all over. I'm not even a woman for him."

"Impossible," repeated Lavretsky, and buttoned his coat. "I don't know
why you have been pleased to honor me by coming here. Most probably
you are out of funds."

"Don't say that--you wound my feelings," whispered Varvara Pavlovna.

"However that may be, you are still, to my sorrow, my wife. I
cannot drive you away, so this is what I propose. You can go to
Lavriki--to-day if you like--and live there! There is an excellent
house there, as you know. You shall have every thing you can want,
besides your allowance. Do you consent?"

Varvara Pavlovna raised her embroidered handkerchief to her face.

"I have already told you," she said, with a nervous twitching of her
lips, "that I will agree to any arrangement you may please to make for
me. At present I have only to ask you--will you at least allow me to
thank you for your generosity?"

"No thanks, I beg of you--we shall do much better without them,"
hastily exclaimed Lavretsky. "Then, he added, approaching the door, I
may depend upon--"

"To-morrow I will be at Lavriki," replied Varvara Pavlovna, rising
respectfully from her seat. "But Fedor Ivanich--" ("She no longer
familiarly called him Theodore).

"What do you wish to say?"

"I am aware that I have not yet in any way deserved forgiveness. But
may I hope that, at least, in time--"

"Ah, Varvara Pavlovna," cried Lavretsky, interrupting her, "you are a
clever woman; but I, too, am not a fool. I know well that you have no
need of forgiveness. Besides, I forgave you long ago; but there has
always been a gulf between you and me."

"I shall know how to submit," answered Varvara Pavlovna, and bowed her
head. "I have not forgotten my fault. I should not have wondered if I
had learnt that you had even been glad to hear of my death," she added
in a soft voice, with a slight wave of her hand towards the newspaper,