"Go to bed, Petrovna. I will escort our guest and will lock up."
When the old woman was gone, she asked me earnestly and in a friendly way:
She became thoughtful, stood up and said:
"Listen. I see that you are in despair. I advise you, don't go out alone. You followed me in here at my first word. You might have fallen in somewhere where you could not get out so easily. Better remain here over night. There is a bed here. Spend the night here, in heaven's name. If you do not wish to do it for nothing, give something to Petrovna--as much as you wish; and if I am in your way, then say so frankly and I will go."
I liked her words and also her eyes. I could not suppress a feeling of joy and I said to' myself, smiling:
"What archbishop?" Tatiana asked, surprised.
I was confused and did not know what to say.
"That is just an expression of mine," I answered. "That is, not really an expression; only very often there is an archbishop who appears in my dreams."
"Not yet," I answered quickly. "Don't go away, I beg of you. Remain here a little longer, if it is no trouble to you."
She asked me if I would drink a glass of vodka or tea, and whether I wished to eat. Her sincere friendliness brought the tears to my eyes, and my heart became as happy as a bird on a spring morning when the sun rises.
"Excuse me for my plain words," I said, "but I would like to know if it is true what you told me about yourself a little while ago? Or did you wish to joke with me?"
She frowned and answered: "Yes, I am one of them. Why do you ask?"
"It is the first time in my life that I have seen such a girl, and I am ashamed."
"What are you ashamed of? I am not sitting naked." And she laughed low and caressingly.
"Not on your account," I answered. "I am ashamed on my own account--because of my stupidity."
And I told her frankly my opinion of her class of girls. She listened quietly and attentively.
"There are various kinds among us," she said. "There may be some who are even worse than you think. You believe people altogether too readily."
I could not get the thought out of my head how such a girl could sell herself, and I asked her again: "Do you do it from necessity?"
"At first," she answered, "I was deceived by a handsome young fellow. To spite him I got another one, and so I fell into the play. And now it happens many times that I do it for the sake of a piece of bread."