At that point I thought he was going to speak
vehemently; but he only astounded me by the convulsive start of his
whole body. He restrained himself, folded his loosened arms tighter
across his chest, and sat back with a smile in which there was a twitch
of scorn and malice.
"Yes, a comrade and an intimate.... Very well," he said.
"I ventured to speak to you on that assumption. And I cannot be
mistaken. I was present when Peter Ivanovitch announced your arrival
here to Miss Haldin, and I saw her relief and thankfulness when your
name was mentioned. Afterwards she showed me her brother's letter,
and read out the few words in which he alludes to you. What else but a
friend could you have been?"
"Obviously. That's perfectly well known. A friend. Quite correct....
Go on. You were talking of some effect."
I said to myself: "He puts on the callousness of a stern revolutionist,
the insensibility to common emotions of a man devoted to a destructive
idea. He is young, and his sincerity assumes a pose before a stranger,
a foreigner, an old man. Youth must assert itself...." As concisely
as possible I exposed to him the state of mind poor Mrs. Haldin had been
thrown into by the news of her son's untimely end.
He listened--I felt it--with profound attention. His level stare
deflected gradually downwards, left my face, and rested at last on the
ground at his feet.
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