"What do you mean, sir?" I exclaimed; "explain yourself if you please."
"With pleasure," rejoined he. "I mean that if you want to be well with Masha Mironoff, you need only make her a present of a pair of earrings instead of your languishing verses."
My blood boiled.
"Why have you such an opinion of her?" I asked him, restraining with difficulty my indignation.
"Because," replied he, with a satanic smile, "because I know by experience her views and habits."
"You lie, you rascal!" I shouted at him, in fury. "You are a shameless liar."
Chvabrine's face changed.
"This I cannot overlook," he said; "you shall give me satisfaction."
"Certainly, whenever you like," replied I, joyfully; for at that moment I was ready to tear him in pieces.
I rushed at once to Iwán Ignatiitch, whom I found with a needle in his hand. In obedience to the order of the Commandant's wife, he was threading mushrooms to be dried for the winter.