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He came into the room with an almost exaggerated air of ease and good-humour; Bersenyev, who knew him well, could see at once that something had been jarring on him. 'I will introduce myself without ceremony, he began with a bright and open expression on his face. 'You are Mr. Insarov, of course, aren't you? 'I am Insarov. 'Then give me your hand and let us be friends.
When young Bersenyev entered the university, his father used to drive with him to the lectures, but his health was already beginning to break up. 'I pass on the torch to you, he said to him two hours before his death. 'I held it while I could; you, too, must not let the light grow dim before the end. Bersenyev talked a long while to Elena of his father.
You, worthy gentlemen, see a man laughing, and that means to your notions he's all right; you can prove to him that he's humbugging himself, that's to say, he is not suffering.... God bless you! Shubin abruptly left the window. 'Annu-shka! Bersenyev felt an impulse to shout after him, but he restrained himself; Shubin had really been white with emotion.
Shubin tried to get a look at Bersenyev's face, but he turned away and walked out of the lime-tree's shade. Shubin went after him, moving his little feet with easy grace. Bersenyev walked clumsily, with his shoulders high and his neck craned forward. Yet, he looked a man of finer breeding than Shubin; more of a gentleman, one might say, if that word had not been so vulgarised among us.
Himself Shubin had modelled as a lean emaciated rake, with sunken cheeks, his thin hair hanging in weak wisps about his face, a meaningless expression in his dim eyes, and his nose sharp and thin as a dead man's. Bersenyev turned away with disgust. 'A nice pair, aren't they, my dear fellow? said Shubin; 'won't you graciously compose a suitable title?
I will tell you something else. Till this evening I still had hopes that she might come to love me in time. But to-day I have seen for certain that there is no hope for me. She is in love with some one else. 'Some one else? Whom? 'Whom? You! cried Shubin, slapping Bersenyev on the shoulder. 'Me! 'You, repeated Shubin. Bersenyev stepped back a pace, and stood motionless.
Besides, from hour to hour I expect the doctor. Elena took her hat from the sofa, put it on and stood still. Her eyes strayed mournfully over the room. She seemed to be remembering.... 'I cannot go away, she whispered at last. Bersenyev pressed her hand: 'Try to pull yourself together, he said, 'calm yourself; you are leaving him in my care. I will come to you this very evening.
'It is terrible even to utter those words, they are so grand. At that instant Anna Vassilyevna came into the room, and the conversation stopped. Bersenyev was stirred by strange emotions when he returned home that evening.
At last, all with one mind, began to wish to go upon the water. Shubin, Insarov, and Bersenyev raced each other over the grass. They succeeded in finding a large painted boat and two boatmen, and beckoned to the ladies. The ladies stepped into the boat; Uvar Ivanovitch cautiously lowered himself into it after them. Great was the mirth while he got in and took his seat.
When she walked back with him through the garden, he was no longer the man she had met two hours before. From that day he began to come more and more often, and Bersenyev less and less often. A strange feeling began to grow up between the two friends, of which they were both conscious, but to which they could not give a name, and which they feared to analyse. In this way a month passed.
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