If that woman were sent by God, she would have become silent. If she were sent by the devil, she would have become silent even then. But there was neither God nor devil in her, and interrupting me, not permitting me to finish the phrase, she went on:
“No, I will not be silent. I must tell you all. I have waited for you so many years. Listen, listen!”
But suddenly she saw my face and she retreated, seized with horror.
“What is it? What is the matter with you? Why do you laugh? I am afraid of your laughter! Stop laughing! Don’t! Don’t!”
But I was not laughing at all, I only smiled softly. And then I said very seriously, without smiling:
“I am smiling because I am glad to see you. Tell me about yourself.”
And, as in a dream, I saw her face and I heard her soft terrible whisper:
“You know that I love you. You know that all my life I loved you alone. I lived with another and was faithful to him. I have children, but you know they are all strangers to me—he and the children and I myself. Yes, I deceived you, I am a criminal, but I do not know how it happened. He was so kind to me, he made me believe that he was convinced of your innocence—later I learned that he did not tell the truth, and with this, just think of it, with this he won me.”
“You lie!”
“I swear to you. For a whole year he followed me and spoke only of you. One day he even cried when I told him about you, about your sufferings, about your love.”