..."
"I am going to the wood."
"I have come back here after not having seen you for months, and we
have not yet spoken a word...."
Ivanov did not reply, but went out. His footsteps echoed through the
great house, finally dying away in the distance. The front-door
slammed, shaking the whole mansion, which was old and falling to
pieces.
Lydia Constantinovna remained in the middle of the room, her face
turned to the door. Mintz approached, took her hand, and raised it to
his lips.
"You must not take it to heart, Lit," he said softly and kindly.
She freed her hand and laid it on Mintz's shoulder.
"No, one should not take it to heart," she assented in a low voice,
"One should not.... But listen, Mintz.... How strange it all is! Once
he loved me very much, though I never loved him.... But my youth was
spent here, and now I feel unhappy.... I remember all that happened
in this drawing-room, it was the first time. If only I could have all
over again! Perhaps I should act differently then. I feel sorry now
for my youth and inexperience, though formerly I cursed them, and I
am far from regretting all that followed afterwards. But I need a
refuge now.... If you only knew how much he loved me in those
days!..."
Lydia Constantinovna was silent a moment, her head bent, then
flinging it back she gave a hollow sardonic laugh.
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