‘What induced me, Irina! Would you have liked me to lie, to be a hypocrite to her, that pure soul? or did you suppose——’
‘I supposed nothing,’ Irina interrupted. ‘I must admit I have thought very little about her. I don’t know how to think of two people at once.’
‘That is, you mean——’
‘Well, and so what then? Is she going away, that pure soul?’ Irina interrupted a second time.
‘I know nothing,’ answered Litvinov. ‘I am to see her again. But she will not stay.’
‘Ah! bon voyage!’
‘No, she will not stay. But I’m not thinking of her either now, I am thinking of what you said to me, what you have promised me.’
Irina looked up at him from under her eyelids.
‘Ungrateful one! aren’t you content yet?’
‘No, Irina, I’m not content. You have made me happy, but I’m not content, and you understand me.’