“What didst thou say to my brother?”
“Nothing,”—replied the other.
“What dost thou mean by ‘nothing’? Impossible.”
And after waiting a little, Nadézhda Alexyéevna said: “Come!”—took Márya Pávlovna by the hand, forced her to rise, and went off with her into the garden.
Vladímir Sergyéitch gazed after the two young girls not without perplexity. But they were not absent long; a quarter of an hour later they returned, and Piótr Alexyéitch entered the room with them.
“What a splendid night!” exclaimed Nadézhda Alexyéevna, as she entered.—“How beautiful it is in the garden!”
“Akh, yes. By the way,”—said Vladímir Sergyéitch;—“allow me to inquire, Márya Pávlovna, whether it was you whom I saw in the garden last night?”
Márya Pávlovna gave him a swift look straight in the eyes.
“Moreover, so far as I could make out, you were declaiming Púshkin’s ‘The Upas-Tree.’”
Véretyeff frowned slightly, and he also began to stare at Astákhoff.