He struck the table with his fist in wild excitement, so that the tea-things clattered and danced.
Matrona had listened to him at first full of curiosity and disquietude, but towards the end she interrupted angrily.
"The medical student has been advising you to do this, hasn't he?" she asked in a meaning voice.
"Haven't I my own reason to go by? Can't I take a decision for myself?" answered Grigori, evading a direct answer.
"Well!—and what am I to do meanwhile?"
"What are you to do?" asked Grigori, astonished. He had not once thought about this side of the question. The simplest way, of course, would be for him to leave his wife in their old lodgings. But wives are not always trustworthy, and he had not entire confidence in his Matrona. She required, according to him, a good deal of looking after. Struck by this thought, Grigori continued sullenly—
"The most simple thing would be for you to remain here. I shall always get my wages, and that will keep you. Hm!—yes," he said, apparently anxious to hear what she would reply to this.
"It's all the same to me," she answered quietly.
And once more he noticed cross her face that woman's smile, which seemed to him to possess a double meaning, and which had so often before awoke in him a feeling of jealousy. It aroused his anger now just in the same way, but he knew how to control himself, and said abruptly, "It's all nonsense, all that you say!"
He looked at her irritably, full of expectation of what she would reply. She however was silent, but continued to annoy him with the same provoking smile.