In fact, he returned soon. Marynia wished at the first moment to throw herself on his neck, but she felt such guilt in reference to him that some sudden timidity stopped her; and he, kissing her on the forehead, inquired,—
“Was any one here?”
“Emilia was, but she could not stay longer. She will come next week.”
He was irritated at this.
“But, my God! thou knowest that it is such a pleasure for me to see her; why not let me know? Why didst thou not think of me, knowing where I was?”
She, like a child explaining itself, spoke with a voice in which tears were trembling, but in which there was at the same time a certain trust,—
“No, Stas, on the contrary, as I love, I was thinking all the time of thee.”
CHAPTER XLII.
“But you see I was there,” said Zavilovski, joyously, at the Bigiels’. “They looked on me somewhat as they might on a panther, or a wolf, but I turned out a very tame creature; I tore no one, killed no one, answered with more or less presence of mind. No; I have long since considered that it is easier to live with people than it seems, and only in the first moments have I a wish always to run away. But those ladies are indeed very free.”