Yet in a moment such
feelings were effaced by a fierce desire to show Sarudine how much he
had lost in losing her; to let him see that she was still beautiful, in
spite of all the sorrow and shame that he had caused her to endure.
"I don't want to know anything," she replied in an imperious, almost a
stagy voice, as for a moment she closed her eyes.
Upon Volochine, her appearance produced an extraordinary effect, as his
sharp little tongue darted out from his dry lips, and his eyes grew
smaller and his whole frame vibrated from sheer physical excitement.
"You haven't introduced us," said Lida, looking round at Sarudine.
"Volochine ... Pavel Lvovitsch ..." stammered the officer.
"And this beauty," he said to himself, "was my mistress." He felt
honestly pleased to think this, at the same time being anxious to show
off before Volochine, while yet bitterly conscious of an irrevocable
loss.
Lida languidly addressed her mother.
"There is some one who wants to speak to you," she said.
"Oh! I can't go now," replied Maria Ivanovna.
"But they are waiting," persisted Lida, almost hysterically.
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