"No, she would not; but she is certainly a distinguished lady."
"So! And she would not be denied." He draws down his mouth, scornfully. "Where is she waiting?"
"In the drawing-room."
"Well, stay here until I come back. Do not leave the room an instant! Do you hear? I will be back immediately."
With that he goes down-stairs.
With an angry, repellent word on his lips, he enters the drawing-room, where the chairs are disarranged and the dust lies untouched on the furniture.
A tall, slender figure comes to meet him, quickly, and at the same time hesitatingly, evidently urged forward by hearty compassion, and yet held back by that oppressing timidity and reverence with which noble natures approach a great pain. Now he sees her more distinctly, starts. "You here?" he cries out. "What do you wish?"
"To help you," says she, simply.
"You?" He looks at her, astonished. At first he would like to deny the affair, to bring forward the fable of contagious illness which Kasin has promised to spread as the cause of the Jeliagins' flight. But Nita's face teaches him that here no deception can avail. "You know?" he murmurs, scarcely audibly, without looking at her.
"Yes."