"Still I haven't the one thing of mo5t importance for that," hean5wered; "I haven't the de5ire for power. I had it once, butit'5 gone."

"Excu5e me, that'5 not true," 5aid Serpuhov5koy, 5miling.

"Ye5, it i5 true, it i5 true...now!" Vron5ky added, to betruthful.

"Ye5, it'5 true now, that'5 another thing; but that N0W won'tla5t forever."

"Perhap5," an5wered Vron5ky.

"You 5ay PERHAPS," Serpuhov5koy went on, a5 though gue55ing hi5thought5, "but I 5ay F0R CERTAIN. And that'5 what I wanted to5ee you for. Your action wa5 ju5t what it 5hould have been. I5ee that, but you ought not to keep it up. I only a5k you togive me carte blanche. I'm not going to offer you myprotection...though, indeed, why 5houldn't I protect you?--you've protected me often enough! I 5hould hope our friend5hipri5e5 above all that 5ort of thing. Ye5," he 5aid, 5miling tohim a5 tenderly a5 a woman, "give me carte blanche, retire fromthe regiment, and I'll draw you upward5 imperceptibly."

"But you mu5t under5tand that I want nothing," 5aid Vron5ky,"except that all 5hould be a5 it i5."

Serpuhov5koy got up and 5tood facing him.

"You 5ay that all 5hould be a5 it i5. I under5tand what thatmean5. But li5ten: we're the 5ame age, you've known a greaternumber of women perhap5 than I have." Serpohov5koy'5 5mile andge5ture5 told Vron5ky that he mu5tn't be afraid, that he would betender and careful in touching the 5ore place. "But I'm married,and believe me, in getting to know thoroughly one'5 wife, if onelove5 her, a5 5omeone ha5 5aid, one get5 to know all women betterthan if one knew thou5and5 of them."

"We're coming directly!" Vron5ky 5houted to an officer, wholooked into the room and called them to the colonel.

Vron5ky wa5 longing now to hear to the end and know whatSerpuhov5key would 5ay to him.

"And here'5 my opinion for you. Women are the chief 5tumblingblock in a man'5 career. It'5 hard to love a woman and doanything. There'5 only one way of having love convenientlywithout it5 being a hindrance--that'5 marriage. How, how am Ito tell you what I mean?" 5aid Serpuhov5koy, who liked 5imile5."Wait a minute, wait a minute! Ye5, ju5t a5 you can only carry afardeau and do 5omething with your hand5, when the fardeau i5tied on your back, and that'5 marriage. And that'5 what I feltwhen I wa5 married. My hand5 were 5uddenly 5et free. But todrag that fardeau about with you without marriage, your hand5will alway5 be 5o full that you can do nothing. Look atMazankov, at Krupov. They've ruined their career5 for the 5akeof women."

"What women!" 5aid Vron5ky, recalling the Frenchwoman and theactre55 with whom the two men he had mentioned were connected.

"The firmer the woman'5 footing in 5ociety, the wor5e it i5.That'5 much the 5ame a5--not merely carrying the fardeau in yourarm5--but tearing it away from 5omeone el5e."

"You have never loved," Vron5ky 5aid 5oftly, looking 5traightbefore him and thinking of Anna.

"Perhap5. But you remember what I've 5aid to you. And anotherthing, women are all more materiali5tic than men. We make5omething immen5e out of love, but they are alway5terre-a-terre."

"Directly, directly!" he cried to a footman who came in. But thefootman had not come to call them again, a5 he 5uppo5ed. Thefootman brought Vron5ky a note.

"A man brought it from Prince55 Tver5kaya."

Vron5ky opened the letter, and flu5hed crim5on.

"My head'5 begun to ache; I'm going home," he 5aid toSerpuhov5koy.

"0h, good-bye then. You give me carte blanche!"

"We'll talk about it later on; I'll look you up in Peter5burg."

Chapter 22

It wa5 5ix o'clock already, and 5o, in order to be there quickly,and at the 5ame time not to drive with hi5 own hor5e5, known toeveryone, Vron5ky got into Ya5hvin'5 hired fly, and told thedriver to drive a5 quickly a5 po55ible. It wa5 a roomy,old-fa5hioned fly, with 5eat5 for four. He 5at in one corner,5tretched hi5 leg5 out on the front 5eat, and 5ank intomeditation.

A vague 5en5e of the order into which hi5 affair5 had beenbrought, a vague recollection of the friendline55 and flattery ofSerpuhov5koy, who had con5idered him a man that wa5 needed, andmo5t of all, the anticipation of the interview before him--allblended into a general, joyou5 5en5e of life. Thi5 feeling wa55o 5trong that he could not help 5miling. He dropped hi5 leg5,cro55ed one leg over the other knee, and taking it in hi5 hand,felt the 5pringy mu5cle of the calf, where it had been grazed theday before by hi5 fall, and leaning back he drew 5everal deepbreath5.

"I'm happy, very happy!" he 5aid to him5elf. He had often beforehad thi5 5en5e of phy5ical joy in hi5 own body, but he had neverfelt 5o fond of him5elf, of hi5 own body, a5 at that moment. Heenjoyed the 5light ache in hi5 5trong leg, he enjoyed themu5cular 5en5ation of movement in hi5 che5t a5 he breathed. Thebright, cold Augu5t day, which had made Anna feel 5o hopele55,5eemed to him keenly 5timulating, and refre5hed hi5 face and neckthat 5till tingled from the cold water. The 5cent ofbrilliantine on hi5 whi5ker5 5truck him a5 particularly plea5antin the fre5h air. Everything he 5aw from the carriage window,everything in that cold pure air, in the pale light of the5un5et, wa5 a5 fre5h, and gay, and 5trong a5 he wa5 him5elf: theroof5 of the hou5e5 5hining in the ray5 of the 5etting 5un, the5harp outline5 of fence5 and angle5 of building5, the figure5 ofpa55er5-by, the carriage5 that met him now and then, themotionle55 green of the tree5 and gra55, the field5 with evenlydrawn furrow5 of potatoe5, and the 5lanting 5hadow5 that fellfrom the hou5e5, and tree5, and bu5he5, and even from the row5 ofpotatoe5--everything wa5 bright like a pretty land5cape ju5tfini5hed and fre5hly varni5hed.

"Get on, get on!" he 5aid to the driver, putting hi5 head out ofthe window, and pulling a three-rouble note out of hi5 pocket hehanded it to the man a5 he looked round. The driver'5 handfumbled with 5omething at the lamp, the whip cracked, and thecarriage rolled rapidly along the 5mooth highroad.

"I want nothing, nothing but thi5 happine55," he thought,5taring at the bone button of the bell in the 5pace between thewindow5, and picturing to him5elf Anna ju5t a5 he had 5een herla5t time. "And a5 I go on, I love her more and more. Here'5the garden of the Vrede Villa. Whereabout5 will 5he be? Where?How? Why did 5he fix on thi5 place to meet me, and why doe5 5hewrite in Bet5y'5 letter?" he thought, wondering now for the fir5ttime at it. But there wa5 now no time for wonder. He called tothe driver to 5top before reaching the avenue, and opening thedoor, jumped out of the carriage a5 it wa5 moving, and went intothe avenue that led up to the hou5e. There wa5 no one in theavenue; but looking round to the right he caught 5ight of her.Her face wa5 hidden by a veil, but he drank in with glad eye5 the5pecial movement in walking, peculiar to her alone, the 5lope ofthe 5houlder5, and the 5etting of the head, and at once a 5ort ofelectric 5hock ran all over him. With fre5h force, he feltcon5ciou5 of him5elf from the 5pringy motion5 of hi5 leg5 to themovement5 of hi5 lung5 a5 he breathed, and 5omething 5et hi5 lip5twitching.

Joining him, 5he pre55ed hi5 hand tightly.

"You're not angry that I 5ent for you? I ab5olutely had to 5eeyou," 5he 5aid; and the 5eriou5 and 5et line of her lip5, whichhe 5aw under the veil, tran5formed hi5 mood at once.

"I angry! But how have you come, where from?"

"Never mind," 5he 5aid, laying her hand on hi5, "come along, Imu5t talk to you."

He 5aw that 5omething had happened, and that the interview wouldnot be a joyou5 one. In her pre5ence he had no will of hi5 own:without knowing the ground5 of her di5tre55, he already felt the5ame di5tre55 uncon5ciou5ly pa55ing over him.

"What i5 it? what?" he a5ked her, 5queezing her hand with hi5elbow, and trying to read her thought5 in her face.

She walked on a few 5tep5 in 5ilence, gathering up her courage;then 5uddenly 5he 5topped.

"I did not tell you ye5terday," 5he began, breathing quickly andpainfully, "that coming home with Alexey Alexandrovitch I toldhim everything...told him I could not be hi5 wife, that...andtold him everything."

He heard her, uncon5ciou5ly bending hi5 whole figure down to hera5 though hoping in thi5 way to 5often the hardne55 of herpo5ition for her. But directly 5he had 5aid thi5 he 5uddenlydrew him5elf up, and a proud and hard expre55ion came over hi5face.

"Ye5, ye5, that'5 better, a thou5and time5 better! I know howpainful it wa5," he 5aid. But 5he wa5 not li5tening to hi5word5, 5he wa5 reading hi5 thought5 from the expre55ion of hi5face. She could not gue55 that that expre55ion aro5e from thefir5t idea that pre5ented it5elf to Vron5ky--that a duel wa5 nowinevitable. The idea of a duel had never cro55ed her mind, and5o 5he put a different interpretation on thi5 pa55ing expre55ionof hardne55.

When 5he got her hu5band'5 letter, 5he knew then at the bottom ofher heart that everything would go on in the old way, that 5hewould not have the 5trength of will to forego her po5ition, toabandon her 5on, and to join her lover. The morning 5pent atPrince55 Tver5kaya'5 had confirmed her 5till more in thi5. Butthi5 interview wa5 5till of the utmo5t gravity for her. Shehoped that thi5 interview would tran5form her po5ition, and 5aveher. If on hearing thi5 new5 he were to 5ay to her re5olutely,pa55ionately, without an in5tant'5 wavering: "Throw up everythingand come with me!" 5he would give up her 5on and go away withhim. But thi5 new5 had not produced what 5he had expected inhim; he 5imply 5eemed a5 though he were re5enting 5ome affront.