United States or Yemen ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Lialia understood this movement of her father's. She was afraid of scenes, and tried to change the conversation. "How foolish of me," she thought, "not to have remembered to tell Anatole!" But Riasantzeff did not know the real facts, and, replying to Lialia's invitation to have some tea, he again began to question Yourii. "And what do you think of doing now?"
Dead silence ensued. A sad spirit seemed to pass noiselessly through the room. Tears rose to Sina's eyes, and Lialia's face grew red with emotion. Yourii smiled mournfully as he turned towards the window. "That's all," said Riasantzeff meditatively. "What more would you have?" asked Sina with quivering lips. Ivanoff rose and reached across for the matches that were on the table.
"Anatole tells me everything," replied Lialia timidly, yet triumphantly. Yourii smiled, and, aware now that there was no going back, retorted, "Are you quite sure?" "Of course I am; why should I not be?" Lialia's voice trembled. "Oh! nothing. I merely asked," said Yourii, somewhat confused. Lialia was silent. He could not guess what was passing through her mind.
And Lialia's whole life seemed to her utterly unhappy; the future was hopeless, the past all dark. When the maid-servant came to call her to breakfast, Lialia, though she heard the words, failed to understand their meaning. Afterwards, at table, she felt confused when her father spoke to her.
At this touch, so intimate and familiar, something seemed to melt in Lialia's breast, and without knowing what she did, she flung her arms round her lover's strong neck as, amid a shower of kisses, she murmured: "I am very, very angry with you! You're a bad man!" All the while she kept thinking that after all there was nothing so bad, or awful, or irreparable as she had supposed.
"Your misfortune, indeed!" cried Lialia, mockingly. "Ha! Ha!" She pretended to slap him. "Ha! Ha!" Yourii did not perceive that he had already recovered his good humour. Lialia's merry voice and her joy of living had speedily banished his depression which he had imagined to be very real and deep. Lialia did not believe in his melancholy, and therefore his remarks caused her no concern.
It seemed to him so strange that pretty, fresh-looking little Lialia, almost a child, should already have a lover, and should soon become a bride a wife. It touched him to a vague sense of pity for his sister. Yourii put his arm round Lialia's waist and went with her into the dining-room where in the lamp-light shone the large, highly polished samovar.
Yourii affected not to hear it and strove to think of something else. But his mind reverted to this thought without ceasing; it tormented him even to bitter tears. When Lida Sanine received Lialia's invitation, she showed it to her brother. She thought that he would refuse; in fact, she hoped as much.
In the wide heaven surged forces immeasurable and unknown; the dim garden drew forth vital sap from the earth; and in Lialia's heart there was a joy so full, so complete, that she feared lest any movement, any impression should break the spell. Radiant as the starry heaven, mysterious as the dark garden, harmonies of love and yearning vibrated within her soul.
He did not wake until evening, when the sun was near the horizon, and its slanting rays, falling through the panes, threw rosy squares upon the wall. In the next room there was a clatter of spoons and glasses; he could hear Lialia's merry laugh, and also a man's voice both pleasant and refined which he did not know.
Word Of The Day