"Through you, I say, I lost my peace of mind."
Nadezhda nudged me, and whispered with gay malice:
"That is probably true, for they say that once he was one of her lovers."
Then she recollected herself and, clapping her hands to her face, cried through her fingers:
"Oh good Lord! What have I said? No, no, you must not believe these tales. They are only slanders, for she is the best of women."
"When evil has been done," continued the quiet voice within the window, "it can never be set right by recounting it to others. He upon whom a burden has been laid should try to bear it. And, should he fail to bear it, the fact will mean that the burden has been beyond his strength."
"It was through you that I lost everything. It was you that stripped me bare."
"But to that which you lost I added movement. Nothing in life is ever lost; it merely passes from one hand to another—from the unskilled hand to the experienced—so that even the bone picked of a dog may ultimately become of value."
"Yes, a bone—that is what I am."
"Why should you say that? You are still a man."