"What a fright you gave me!" she said.
Sanine came nearer and leant with both elbows on the window-sill. His
eyes shone, and he smiled.
"There was no need for that!" he muttered playfully.
Lida looked round.
"Without a shawl you looked much nicer," he said in a low voice,
impressively.
Lida looked at him in amazement, and instinctively drew the shawl
tighter round her.
Sanine laughed. In confusion, she also leant upon the window-sill, and
now she felt his breath on her cheek.
"What a beauty you are!" he said.
Lida glanced swiftly at him, fearful of what she thought she could read
in his face. With her whole body she felt that her brother's eyes were
fixed upon her, and she turned away in horror. It was so terrible, so
loathsome, that her heart seemed frozen. Every man looked at her just
like that, and she liked it, but for her brother to do so was
incredible, impossible. Recovering herself, she said, smiling:
"Yes, I know."
Sanine calmly watched her. The shawl and her chemise had slipped when
she leant on the window-sill, and partly disclosed her tender bosom,
white in the moonlight.
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