He looked so elegant and self-possessed, that Sarudine felt
somewhat envious, and endeavoured to assume an equally careless
demeanour; but ever since Lida had flung the word "brute" in his face,
he had felt ill at ease, as if every one had heard the insult and was
secretly mocking him.
Volochine smiled, and chatted about various trifling matters. Yet he
found it difficult to keep up such superficial conversation. "Woman"
was the theme that he longed to approach, and it underlay all his stale
jokes and stories of the strike at his St. Petersburg factory.
As he lighted another cigar he took the opportunity of looking hard at
Sarudine. Their eyes met, and they instantly understood each other.
Volochine adjusted his _pince-nez_ and smiled a smile that found its
reflection In Sarudine's face which suddenly acquired a look of lust.
"I don't expect you waste much of your time, do you?" said Volochine,
with a knowing wink.
"Oh! as for that, well, what else is there to do?" replied Sarudine,
shrugging his shoulders slightly.
Then they both laughed, and for a while were silent.
Pages:
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322
323
324
325
326
327