“That is your opinion? You have found someone for whom you have sympathy?”
“Yes, especially in one respect. She cannot endure the Governor any more than I can. I don’t know what her reasons are; his position is enough for me. We neither of us like the police; we are oppressed by them. The old lady is compelled by them to carry out all sorts of repairs; to me they pay far too much attention, find out where I live, whether I go far from the town, and whom I visit.”
“Now we have nothing more to talk about. Why did you come here?” asked Mark.
“With Vera,” continued Mark. “Splendid girl, and she is related to you. It must be easy for you to begin a romance with her.”
Raisky made an angry gesture, to which Mark replied by a burst of laughter.
“Call the ancient wisdom to your help,” he said. “Show outward coldness when you are inwardly consumed, indifference of manner, pride, contempt--every little helps. Parade yourself before her as suits your calling.”
“Perhaps,” remarked Raisky indifferently.
“I, for instance,” said Mark, “should make direct for my goal, and should be sure of victory. You may do the same, but you would do so penetrated by the conviction that you stood on the heights and had drawn her up to you, you idealist. Show that you understand your calling, and you may succeed. It’s no use to wear yourself out with sighs, to be sleepless, to watch for the raising of the lilac curtain by a white hand, to wait a week for a kindly glance.”
Raisky put compulsion on himself to restrain his rage, for every involuntary expression or gesture of anger would have meant nothing less than acquiescence.
“I should very well like to fall in love, but I cannot,” he yawned, counterfeiting indifference. “It is unsuited to my years and doesn’t cure my boredom.”
“Try it,” teased Mark. “Let us have a wager that in a week you will be as enamoured as a young cat. And within two months, or perhaps one, you will have perpetrated so many follies that you will not know how to get away from here.”
“If I am, with what will you pay?” asked Raisky in a tone bordering on contempt.
“I will give you my trousers or my gun. I possess only two pairs of trousers. The tailor has recovered a third pair for debt. Wait, I will try on your coat. Why, it fits as if I were poured into a mould. Try mine.”