Sanine smiled.
“No, certainly not. Man is vile by nature. Expect nothing good from him…. And then the harm that he does to you will not make you grieve.”
Lida looked up at him with beautiful tear-stained eyes.
“Do you expect nothing good from your fellow-men, either?”
“Of course not,” replied Sanine, “I live alone.”
CHAPTER XXIX.
On the following day Dounika, bare-headed and barefooted, came running to Sanine who was gardening.
“Vladimir Petrovitch,” she exclaimed, and her silly face had a scared look, “the officers have come, and they wish to speak to you.” She repeated the words like a lesson that she had learnt by heart.
Sanine was not surprised. He had been expecting a challenge from Sarudine.
“Are they very anxious to see me?” he asked in a jocular tone.