"Anna Nicolaëvna!" I said again, and, in my turn, I could say nothing
more. There was a long silence. Retaining her hand in mine, I gazed at
her. Sinking down, she breathed quickly, biting her lower lip, in order
to keep back the tears which were ready to flow. I continued to gaze at
her; there was in her motionless and timorous attitude an expression of
weakness deeply touching. It was as if she had fallen crushed upon the
chair and could not stir. My heart was filled with pity.
"Annouchka!" I said in a low voice. She slowly raised her eyes to mine.
O the look of a woman whose heart has just opened to love! how find
words to describe it?--They beseech, those eyes! they question, they
give themselves up.--I could not resist them--a subtle fire ran through
my veins. I bent over her head and covered it with kisses.--Suddenly my
ear was struck by a trembling sound like a stifled sob. I felt a hand
which trembled like a leaf pass over my hair. I raised my head and saw
her face.--What a sudden transfiguration had come over it!--Fright had
disappeared; her eyes had a far-away look that seemed to ask mine to
join with them; her lips were slightly apart; her forehead was as pale
as marble, whilst her curls floated behind her head, as if a breath of
air had blown them back!
I forgot everything. I drew her towards me. She offered no resistance.
Her shawl slipped from her shoulders, her head fell and rested gently
upon my breast, under the kisses of my burning lips.
"I am yours!" she murmured feebly.
Suddenly the thought of Gaguine flashed across me.
"What are we doing?" I cried, pushing her from me convulsively. "Your
brother knows everything; he knows that we are here together!"
Annouchka fell back upon the chair.
"Yes," I said, rising and going away from her, "your brother knows
everything! I was forced to tell him all."
"Forced?" she stammered. She seemed hardly to understand me.
"Yes, yes," I repeated harshly, "and it is your fault,--yours, yours
alone! What reason had you to give up your secret? Were you forced to
tell your brother everything? He came to me this morning and repeated
all you had told him."