Lialia understood this movement of her father's. She was afraid of
scenes, and tried to change the conversation.
"How foolish of me," she thought, "not to have remembered to tell
Anatole!"
But Riasantzeff did not know the real facts, and, replying to Lialia's
invitation to have some tea, he again began to question Yourii.
"And what do you think of doing now?"
Nicolai Yegorovitch frowned, and said nothing. Yourii at once knew what
his father's silence meant; and before he had reflected upon the
consequences of such an answer he replied, defiantly and with
irritation,
"Nothing for the moment."
"How do you mean--nothing?" asked Nicolai Yegorovitch, stopping short.
He had not raised his voice, but its tone clearly conveyed a hidden
reproach.
"How can you say such a thing? As if I were obliged always to have you
round my neck! How can you forget that I am old, and that it is high
time that you earned your own living? I say nothing. Live as you like!
But can't you yourself understand?" The tone implied all this. And the
more it made Yourii feel that his father was right in thinking as he
did, the more he took offence.
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