Oppressed as he was by the sense of his uncertain position and by the melancholy of the dying day, Yourii felt almost vexed by his sister’s gaiety and by her merry voice.
“What are you so pleased about?” he asked abruptly.
“Well, I never!” cried Lialia, wide-eyed, while she laughed again, just as if her brother’s question had reminded her of something particularly amusing.
“Imagine your asking me why I am so pleased? You see, I am never bored. I have no time for that sort of thing.”
Then, in a graver tone, and evidently proud of her last remark, she added.
“We live in such interesting times that it would really be a sin to feel bored. I have got the workmen to teach, and then the library takes up a lot of my time. While you were away, we started a popular library, and it is going very well indeed.”
At any other time this would have interested Yourii, but now something made him indifferent. Lialia looked very serious, waiting, as a child might wait, for her brother’s praise. At last he managed to murmur.
“Oh! really!”
“With all that to do, can you expect me to be bored?” said Lialia contentedly.
“Well, anyhow, everything bores me,” replied Yourii involuntarily. She pretended to be hurt.