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Updated: June 16, 2025
"Meantime," said the Count, "so long as I keep thee in thy office, study to satisfy me. Go to thy room and reflect, and at the end of a quarter of an hour, bring thy little father here to me; I want to talk with him, and I will permit thee to listen, if that will give thee pleasure." As soon as Ivan had gone, Gilbert begged M. Leminof not to pursue this miserable business.
"You will not be vexed with me for inviting Solon to dine with us?" continued M. Leminof. "The poor beast has been hypochondriacal for several days, and I am glad to procure this little distraction for him. I hope it will dissipate it. I cannot bear melancholy faces; hypochondria is the fate of fools who have no mental resources." He pronounced these last words half turning towards Stephane.
Gilbert trembled lest Stephane's veracity should succumb under this temptation; the young man hesitated but an instant. "I am the guilty one," answered he in a firm voice, "and it is I who should be punished." "What," said M. Leminof, "was it then my son, who, availing himself of the only resources of his mind, conceived this truly happy idea.
While Vladimir spoke, Gilbert thought to himself, "This man is truly the compatriot of Count Leminof." And then recalling the amiable and generous Muscovite with whom he had once been intimate, he justly concluded that Russia is large, and that nature, taking pleasure in contrasts, produces in that great country alternately the hardest and the most tender souls in the world.
"Oh, Monsieur le Comte," replied he in his frankest tones and with the most tranquil air he could command, "I never suspect claws in a fellow-creature; only when occasion makes me feel them, I cry out loudly and defend myself." The sound of Gilbert's voice, and the expression of his face, struck M. Leminof. What is 'a beautiful soul? I know nothing of the species."
He was now most forcibly struck by his eyes, of a slightly turbid gray, whose glances, vague, unsteady, indiscernible, became at moments cold and dull as lead. Never had M. Leminof been so amiable to his secretary; he spoke to him playfully, and looked at him with an expression of charming good nature.
"So you are a dreamer and an egotist," said M. Leminof, looking fixedly at him. "I hope, sir, that you have the virtues of the class. I mean to say, that while wholly occupied with yourself, you are free from all indiscreet curiosity. Egotism is worth its price only when it is accompanied by a scornful indifference to others.
He remained motionless a few seconds, his hand upon his heart. At last he knocked. A voice cried: "Come in. He opened the door and entered. Heavens! how far was the reality from his fancy. M. Leminof was quietly seated in the embrasure of the window, looking at the rain and playing with his monkey.
"I know for a certainty," said he, "that M. Leminof loved his wife, that she was unfaithful to him that he finished by suspecting her, and that he revenged himself " "False! false!" cried the priest with deep emotion. "To hear you one would believe that Count Kostia killed his wife. You have heard lying reports.
I swear to you that at the bottom of her heart, she respects you, and that you have only to wish it to have her love you as a father." M. Leminof answered only by a shrug of the shoulders, which signified "What matters it to me?" "I am bound to say further," resumed Gilbert, "that your anger ought to fall upon me alone.
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