OCR Text |
Show 176 Tllli l).\l{l{ l"t)l{l',.\"l‘ THE RETREA'J‘ In England we have qualities of eudurauee. ol' reliabilitv, ot' solidity. to which. ot‘teu enough. I long to I'etiirlt- him that warmth ot heart that l have luiowu here for two louu‘ years. a warmth that means love tor the ueeleetetl, tor 1.11: defeated. tor the helpless. a warmth that lights i tire on every hearth in every house in llussia-sthat. is a greater thing than the possessors of it lmow. / 'llliroueh all the little quarrels and disputes of our eom- as ignorant of the world as on the day when she arrived pany there ran the thread ot the all'air ot' 'l‘reuehard, .\larie l\anovna and Heinyonm'. 'llrenehard was lighted now with the pleasure ot' their :tllit‘t'tlt‘vll. and Marie llvanovna, who had been at first so popular amongst them. was held to be hard and eaprieious. She. at least. did not Illtllx'e it easv tor them to lllit‘ her. She had seemed in those tirst davs ill t) as though she wished to win all their hearts, but now it was as though she had not time to (-ousider any of) us. as though she had something of far greater importance to claim her attention. She was now very eontimiallv with Semyono ' and yet it: seemed to me that it was rather respect for his opinion and admiration of his independent-C than lilting that compelled her. He was, bevond anv (ines- l1t|]I,‘lll idle With her, it' the name of love can be given to the tieree, intolerant. passion that governed him. U lle made no attempt to disguise his feelings, was as rude to the rest .of us as he pleased. and, of course, tlunq his Torn plentit'ully over illrcnehard. lint, now i seemed to oeteet 111 him some shades of restlessness and. anxictzv that 11 hard never seen in him before. He was not sure ot her: ]l(:\:t :1 3:9 ivbeiieve, understand her any more than didthe . iti Justice, indeed, I was afraid for her. His passion, I thought, was as surely and as nakedly a phvsieal one as any other that I had seen precede it, and would as LCI‘talllly P333 as all purely physical passions do. She was 177 amongst us; but my feeling about her was that she would receive his love almost as though in a dream, her thoughts fixed on something far from him. and in no way depending on him. At any rate she was with him now continually. \Vc judged her proud and hard-hearted, all of us except '.l‘re,nehard who loved her, Seniyonov who wanted her, and Nililtil], who, is T now believe, even then understood her. Trent-hard meanwhile was confused and unsettled: in- action did not. suit. him any better than it did the rest of us. He had too mueh time to think about Marie Ivanovna. He was undoul‘Jtedly pleased at his new popularity. He expanded under it and beeame something ot the loquaeious and uncalculatingr person that he had shown himself during his confession to me in the train. To the Russians his loquacity was in no way strange or unpleasant. They were in the habit of unburdeningr themselves, their hopes, their disappointments, their joys, their tragedies, to the first strangers Whom they met. It seemed quite natural to them that Trenehard, putting his rebellious pipe, should tall; to them about Gleheshire, Polehester, Raficl, Millie, and Kath- erine Trenchard. "I'd like you to meet Katherine, Anna Petrovna," he would say. "You would find her delightful. Shes married now to a young man she ran away with, whieh sur- she prised every one-her running away, l mean, because was always considered such a serious character." "I forget whether you've seen my children, ‘M r.' " Anna Petrovna would reply. "I must show you their photograph." And she would produce the large and hideous picture. lie was the same as in those first days, and yet how inr mensely not the same. He bore himself now with a chiv- |