“Yes, yes, it is true she will say nothing. The pope’s wife knows everything, but she would rather die than betray Vera’s secrets. Her own secrets she scatters for anyone to pick up, but not Vera’s.”
“With whom could she fall in love?” remarked Tatiana Markovna after a silence. “There is no one here.”
“No one?” interrupted Raisky quickly.
Tatiana Markovna shook her head, then went on after a while:—
“There might be the Forester. He is an excellent individual, and has shown an inclination, I notice. He would be certainly an admirable match for Vera, but....”
“Well?”
“She is so strange. Heaven knows how any one would dare, how any man would woo her. He is splendid—well-established and rich. The wood alone yields thousands.”
“Is the Forester young, educated, a man that counts?”
Vassilissa entered and announced Paulina Karpovna.
“The evil one himself has brought her,” grumbled Tatiana Markovna. “Show her in, and be quick with breakfast.”