She was plainly making a great effort to conceal her real mood. She chatted volubly with Paulina Karpovna, who had turned up unexpectedly and was displaying the pattern of a dress intended for Marfinka’s trousseau. That lady’s visit was really directed towards Raisky, of whose return she had heard. She sought in vain an occasion to speak with him alone, but seized a moment to sit down beside him, when she made eyes at him and said in a low voice: _“Je comprends; dites tout, du courage.”_
Raisky wished her anywhere, and moved away. Vera meanwhile put on her coat and asked him to come with her. Paulina Karpovna wished to accompany them, but Vera declined on the ground that they were walking and had far to go, that the ground was damp, and that Paulina’s elegant dress with a long train was unsuited for the expedition.
“I want to have you this whole day for myself,” she said to Raisky as they went out together, “indeed every day until you go.”
“But, Vera, how can I help you when I don’t know what is making you suffer. I only see that you have your own drama, that the catastrophe is approaching, or is in process. What is it?” he asked anxiously, as she shivered.
“I don’t feel well, and am far from gay. Autumn is beginning. Nature grows dark and sinister, the birds are already deserting us, and my mood, too, is autumnal. Do you see the black line high above the Volga? Those are the cranes in flight. My thoughts, too, fly away into the distance.”
She realised halfway that this strange explanation was unconvincing, and only pursued it because she did not wish to tell the truth.
“I wanted to ask you, Vera, about the letters you wrote to me.”
“I am ill and weak; you saw what an attack I had yesterday. I cannot remember just now all that I wrote.”
“Another time then!” he sighed. “But tell me, Vera, how I can help you. Why do you keep me back, and why do you want to spend these days in my society? I have a right to ask this, and it is your duty to give a plain answer unless you want me to think you false.”
“No,” he cried angrily. “You play with me as a cat does with a mouse. I will endure it no longer. You can either reveal your own secrets or keep them as you please, but in so far as it touches me, I demand an immediate answer. What is my part in this drama?”