She cast her eyes down and made no reply.
Grushnitski followed the Princess about during the whole evening and danced either with her or vis-a-vis. He devoured her with his eyes, sighed, and wearied her with prayers and reproaches. After the third quadrille she had begun to hate him.
“I did not expect this from you,” he said, coming up to me and taking my arm.
“What?”
“You are going to dance the mazurka with her?” he asked in a solemn tone. “She admitted it”...
“Well, what then? It is not a secret, is it”?
“Of course not... I ought to have expected such a thing from that chit—that flirt... I will have my revenge, though!”
“You should lay the blame on your cloak, or your epaulettes, but why accuse her? What fault is it of hers that she does not like you any longer?”...
“But why give me hopes?”
“Why did you hope? To desire and to strive after something—that I can understand! But who ever hopes?”