"Guess!" said Peredonov in a morose, solemn voice.
"How can I guess what sort of news you have?" replied Vershina. "You tell us, and then we shall know what your news is."
Peredonov felt unhappy because they did not want to try and guess his news. He sat there silently, hunched up awkwardly, dull and heavy, and looked motionlessly before him. Vershina smoked and smiled wryly, showing her dark yellow teeth.
"Why should I guess your news this way?" she said after a short silence. "Let me find it out in the cards. Marta, bring the cards here."
Marta rose but Peredonov gruffly stopped her:
"Sit still, I don't want them. Find out without them, but don't bother me with the cards. But now you can't do it at my expense. I'll show you a trick that'll make you open your mouths wide."
Peredonov took his wallet quickly from his pocket and showed Vershina a letter in an envelope, without letting it go from his hands.
"Do you see?" he said. "Here's the envelope. And here's the letter."
He took out the letter and read it slowly with a dull expression of gratified spite in his eyes. Vershina was dumbfounded. To the very last she had not believed in the Princess, but now she understood that the affair with Marta was conclusively off. She smiled wryly and said:
"Well, you're in luck."