“Then I suppose your love is very ardent?”
“How absurd you are! Yes, very ardent.”
“And it’s for that you must have money?”
“Well, yes … yes, yes.”
Polozov gulped down his wine, rinsed his mouth, and washed his hands, carefully wiped them on the napkin, took out and lighted a cigar. Sanin watched him in silence.
“There’s one means,” Polozov grunted at last, throwing his head back, and blowing out the smoke in a thin ring. “Go to my wife. If she likes, she can take all the bother off your hands.”
“But how can I see your wife? You say you are starting the day after to-morrow?”
Polozov closed his eyes.
“I’ll tell you what,” he said at last, rolling the cigar in his lips, and sighing. “Go home, get ready as quick as you can, and come here. At one o’clock I am going, there’s plenty of room in my carriage. I’ll take you with me. That’s the best plan. And now I’m going to have a nap. I must always have a nap, brother, after a meal. Nature demands it, and I won’t go against it. And don’t you disturb me.”
Sanin thought and thought, and suddenly raised his head; he had made up his mind.