Yourii was really
pleased that the matter should have ended happily like this, while yet
affecting to despise such an attitude of bourgeois complacency and
toleration. He withdrew to his room, remaining there alone until the
evening, and as, before sunset, the sky grew clear, he took his gun,
intending to shoot in the same place where he and Riasantzeff had been
yesterday.
After the rain, the marsh seemed full of new life. Many strange sounds
were now audible, and the grasses waved as if stirred by some secret
vital force. Frogs croaked lustily in a chorus; now and again some
birds uttered a sharp discordant cry; while at no great distance, yet
out of range, ducks could be heard cackling in the wet reeds. Yourii,
however, felt no desire to shoot, but he shouldered his gun and turned
homeward, listening to sounds of crystalline clearness in the grey calm
twilight.
"How beautiful!" thought he. "All is beautiful; man alone is vile!"
Far away he saw the little fire burning in the melon-field, and ere
long by its light he recognized the faces of Kousma and Sanine.
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