“I believe you.”
“Vera, there is no longer any doubt that you have a lover. Who is he?”
“Don’t ask.”
“Who is there in the world who could desire your happiness more ardently than I do? Why have you confidence in him and not in me?”
“Because I love him.”
“The man you love is to be envied, but how is he going to repay you for the supreme happiness that you bring him? Be careful, my friend. To whom do you give your confidence?”
“To myself.”
“Who is the man?”
Instead of answering him she looked full in his face, and he thought that her eyes were as colourless as those of a watersprite, and there lay hidden in them a maddening riddle. From below in the bushes there came the sound of a shot. Vera rose immediately from the bench, and Raisky also rose.
“HE?” he asked in a dull voice. “It is ten o’clock.”