"Don't try and comfort me," she said; "don't talk about him; don't tell me that he will come, that he has not cast me off so cruelly and so inhumanly as he has. What forwhat for? Can there have been something in my letter, that unlucky letter?"
At that point sobs stifled her voice; my heart was torn as I looked at her.
"Oh, how inhumanly cruel it is!" she began again. "And not a line, not a line! He might at least have written that he does not want me, that he rejects mebut not a line for three days! How easy it is for him to wound, to insult a poor, defenceless girl, whose only fault is that she loves him! Oh, what I've suffered during these three days! Oh, dear! When I think that I was the first to go to him, that I humbled myself before him, cried, that I begged of him a little love!and after that! Listen," she said, turning to me, and her black eyes flashed, "it isn't so! It can't be so; it isn't natural. Either you are mistaken or I; perhaps he has not received the letter? Perhaps he still knows nothing about it? How could any onejudge for yourself, tell me, for goodness' sake explain it to me, I can't understand ithow could any one behave with such barbarous coarseness as he has behaved to me? Not one word! Why, the lowest creature on earth is treated more compassionately. Perhaps he has heard something, perhaps some one has told him something about me," she cried, turning to me inquiringly: "What do you think?"
"Listen, Nastenka, I shall go to him tomorrow in your name."
"Yes?"
"I will question him about everything; I will tell him everything."
"Yes, yes?"
"You write a letter. Don't say no, Nastenka, don't say no! I will make him respect your action, he shall hear all about it, and if"
"No, my friend, no," she interrupted. "Enough! Not another word, not another line from meenough! I don't know him; I don't love him any more. I will forget him."
She could not go on.
"Calm yourself, calm yourself! Sit here, Nastenka," I said, making her sit down on the seat.
"I am calm. Don't trouble. It's nothing! It's only tears, they will soon dry. Why, do you imagine I shall do away with myself, that I shall throw myself into the river?"
My heart was full: I tried to speak, but I could not.
"Listen," she said taking my hand. "Tell me: you wouldn't have behaved like this, would you? You would not have abandoned a girl who had come to you of herself, you would not have thrown into her face a shameless taunt at her weak foolish heart? You would have taken care of her? You would have realized that she was alone, that she did not know how to look after herself, that she could not guard herself from loving you, that it was not her fault, not her faultthat she had done nothing. Oh dear, oh dear!"
"Nastenka!" I cried at last, unable to control my emotion. "Nastenka, you torture me! You wound my heart, you are killing me, Nastenka! I cannot be silent! I must speak at last, give utterance to what is surging in my heart!"
As I said this I got up from the seat. She took my hand and looked at me in surprise.
"What is the matter with you?" she said at last.
"Listen," I said resolutely. "Listen to me, Nastenka! What I am going to say to you now is all nonsense, all impossible, all stupid! I know that this can never be, but I cannot be silent. For the sake of what you are suffering now, I beg you beforehand to forgive me!"
"What is it? What is it?" she said drying her tears and looking at me intently, while a strange curiosity gleamed in her astonished eyes. "What is the matter?"
"It's impossible, but I love you, Nastenka! There it is! Now everything is told," I said with a wave of my hand. "Now you will see whether you can go on talking to me as you did just now, whether you can listen to what I am going to say to you."
"Well, what then?" Nastenka interrupted me. "What of it? I knew you loved me long ago, only I always thought that you simply liked me very much. Oh dear, oh dear!"
"At first it was simply liking, Nastenka, but now, now! I am just in the same position as you were when you went to him with your bundle. In a worse position than you, Nastenka, because he cared for no one else as you do."
"What are you saying to me! I don't understand you in the least. But tell me, what's this for; I don't mean what for, but why are you so suddenly. Oh dear, I am talking nonsense! But you."
And Nastenka broke off in confusion. Her cheeks flamed; she dropped her eyes.
"What's to be done, Nastenka, what am I to do? I am to blame. I have abused your. But no, no, I am not to blame, Nastenka; I feel that, I know that, because my heart tells me I am right, for I cannot hurt you in any way, I cannot wound you! I was your friend, but I am still your friend, I have betrayed no trust. Here my tears are falling, Nastenka. Let them flow, let them flowthey don't hurt anybody. They will dry, Nastenka."
"Sit down, sit down," she said, making me sit down on the seat. "Oh, my God!"
"No, Nastenka, I won't sit down; I cannot stay here any longer, you cannot see me again; I will tell you everything and go away. I only want to say that you would never have found out that I loved you. I should have kept my secret. I would not have worried you at such a moment with my egoism. No! But I could not resist it now; you spoke of it yourself, it is your fault, your fault and not mine. You cannot drive me away from you."