Now, isn't that so?"
"What utter nonsense you're talking!" cried Novikoff, turning as red as
his silk shirt. So confused was he, that tears rose to his calm, kindly
eyes.
"How is it nonsense, when besides Lida you can see nothing else in the
whole world? The wish to possess her is written in large letters on
your brow."
Novikoff winced perceptibly and began to walk rapidly up and down the
path. If anyone but Lida's brother had spoken to him in this way it
would have pained him deeply, but to hear such words from Sanine's
mouth amazed him; in fact at first he scarcely understood them.
"Look here," he muttered, "either you are posing, or else--"
"Or else--what?" asked Sanine, smiling.
Novikoff looked aside, shrugged his shoulders, and was silent. The
other inference led him to regard Sanine as an immoral, bad man. But he
could not tell him this, for, ever since their college days, he had
always felt sincere affection for him, and it seemed to Novikoff
impossible that he should have chosen a wicked man as his friend. The
effect on his mind was at once bewildering and unpleasant.
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