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At the luckless word "married," Yourii's face grew redder still, and in his eyes there was a malevolent look. He saw before him an entire romance of the usual provincial type; rose-pink billets-doux, sisters as confidantes, orthodox matrimony, with its inevitable commonplace sequel, home, wife, and babies the one thing on earth that he dreaded most. "Oh!
Then the lamps were put out and the room became dark. "Thank you very much," said Schafroff as he warmly shook Yourii's hand. "I wish that we always had some one to read to us like that." Lecturing was his business, and so he felt obliged to Yourii as if the latter had done him a personal service, although he thanked him in the name of the people. Schafroff laid stress on the word "people."
Just as the law of Moses has passed away, just as Buddha and the gods of Greece are dead, so, too, Christ is dead. It is but the law of evolution. Why should you be so amazed? You don't believe in the divinity of his doctrine, do you?" "No, of course not," retorted Von Deitz, less irritated at the question than at Yourii's offensive tone.
As the ground was sloping, they seemed to be lying side by side. In the dim light Yourii's lips fastened on hers with wild passionate longing. She did not struggle, but only trembled violently. "Do you love me?" she murmured, breathlessly. Her voice sounded like some mysterious whisper from the woods. Then in amazement, Yourii asked himself: "What am I doing?"
Yourii hummed this softly to himself. Then he said, aloud: "How tedious, sad, and dreadful it all is!" as if complaining to some one. The sound of his own voice alarmed him, and he turned round to see if he had been overheard. "I am drunk," he thought. Silent and serene, the night looked down. While Sina Karsavina and Dubova were absent on a visit, Yourii's life seemed uneventful and monotonous.
What did it matter? All that she wanted was to love and be loved by this big, handsome man. Afterwards, at table, it was painful to her to notice Yourii's look of amazement, and, when the chance came, she whispered to him, "It's awful of me, I know!" at which he only smiled awkwardly.
Thus Riasantzeff sought to reassure her, while secretly annoyed at Yourii's childish freak. "Tomfoolery!" growled Schafroff, who was equally vexed. "They are coming, they are coming! Don't worry!" said Lida contemptuously. A sound of footsteps could now be heard, and soon Sina and Yourii emerged from the darkness. Yourii blew out the light and smiled uneasily, as he was not sure of his reception.
Lialia bestowed resounding kisses upon the two girls who were making tea, and introduced them to her brother and to Sanine, whom they regarded with shy curiosity. Lida suddenly remembered that the two men did not know each other. "Allow me," she said to Yourii, "to introduce to you my brother Vladimir." Sanine smiled and grasped Yourii's hand, but the latter scarcely noticed him.
In silence they advanced to the edge of the slope, aware that they ought to do something, to say something, yet feeling all the while that they had not sufficient courage. Then Sina raised her head, when, unexpectedly yet quite simply and naturally, her lips met Yourii's. She trembled and grew pale as he gently embraced her, and for the first time felt her warm, supple body in his arms.
He considered himself the cleverest, most eloquent and most cultured of them all; moreover in a little club like this, which he had organized, he expected to play first fiddle. Yourii's success annoyed him, and he felt bound to go against him.
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