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'You must be calm, Natalya Alexyevna, Rudin was beginning; 'we must think together what means
'Do you think so? said Rudin.... 'However, he continued, 'I ought not really to speak about Lezhnyov; I loved him, loved him as a friend... but afterwards, through various misunderstandings... 'You quarrelled? 'No. But we parted, and parted, it seems, for ever. 'Ah, I noticed that the whole time of his visit you were not quite yourself.... But I am much indebted to you for this morning.
'Of course that's very original, but it's not to the point. 'In what I have said hitherto, rejoined Rudin, 'there is, unfortunately, too little that's original. All that has been well known a very long time, and has been said a thousand times. That is not the pith of the matter. 'What is then? asked Pigasov, not without insolence.
Excuse me, I can neither regard you as a friend, nor will I give you my hand.... That is petty, perhaps, but I am only a petty person. Rudin took his hat from the window seat. 'Sergei Pavlitch! he said sorrowfully, 'goodbye; I was mistaken in my expectations. Reflecting upon it all, I see indeed, you are right, you could not have behaved otherwise.
In discussions he always first bantered his opponent, then grew cross, and finally sulked and was silent. 'Here it is, continued Rudin. 'I cannot help, I own, feeling sincere regret when I hear sensible people attack 'Systems? interposed Pigasov. 'Yes, with your leave, even systems. What frightens you so much in that word?
Lezhnyov jumped up. 'Rudin! he cried, 'why do you speak like that to me? How have I deserved it from you? Am I such a judge, and what kind of a man should I be, if at the sight of your hollow cheeks and wrinkles, "mere words" could occur to my mind? Do you want to know what I think of you, Dmitri? Well!
What is there to do? 'What is there to do! To keep an old blind woman and all her family by one's work, as, do you remember, Mihail, Pryazhentsov did... That's doing something. 'Yes, but a good word is also something done. Rudin looked at Lezhnyov without speaking and faintly shook his head. Lezhnyov wanted to say something, and he passed his hand over his face.
He tried to keep his feelings in check, but in vain; he was jealous of him on Natalya's account. And Rudin himself, though he always welcomed Volintsev with effusion, though he called him a knight-errant, and borrowed money from him, did not feel exactly friendly towards him.
Volintsev raised himself, and, leaning on his elbow gazed a long, long while into his friend's face, and then repeated to him his whole conversation with Rudin word for word. He had never before given Lezhnyov a hint of his sentiments towards Natalya, though he guessed they were no secret to him. 'Well, brother, you have surprised me! Lezhnyov said, as soon as Volintsev had finished his story.
She was polite to Rudin, but kept him somehow at a distance, and smiled and frowned, talking through her nose, and in hints more than ever. Everything about her had the air of the society lady of the court. She had seemed of late rather cooler to Rudin. 'What is the secret of it? he thought, with a sidelong look at her haughtily-lifted head.