Arkady scratched his ear.
“Listen, Katerina Sergeyevna, surely that is in the nature of an insult.”
“Why, would you rather be wild?”
“Not wild, but powerful, energetic.”
“It’s no good wishing to be that . . . your friend, you see, doesn’t wish for it, but he has it.”
“Hm!
So you suppose he had a great influence on Anna Sergeyevna?”
“Yes.
But no one can keep the upper hand of her for long,” added Katya in a low voice.
“Why do you think that?”
“She’s very proud . . . I didn’t mean to say that . . she values her independence very much.”
“Who doesn’t value it?” asked Arkady, and the thought flashed through his mind:
“What is it for?”
The same thought occurred to Katya.
Young people who are friendly and often together constantly find themselves thinking the same thoughts.
Arkady smiled and, coming a little closer to Katya, he said in a whisper:
“Confess, you are a little afraid of her.”
“Of whom?”
“Of her,” repeated Arkady significantly.
“And how about you?” asked Katya in her turn.
“I am also. Please note I said, I am also.”
Katya wagged her finger at him threateningly.
“I wonder at that,” she began; “my sister has never felt so friendly towards you as just now; much more than when you first came here.”
“Fancy that!”
“And you haven’t noticed it?
Aren’t you glad about it?”
Arkady became thoughtful.
“How have I succeeded in winning Anna Sergeyevna’s favor?
Could it be because I brought her your mother’s letters?”
“Both for that and for other reasons which I won’t tell you.”
“Why?”
“I shan’t say.”
“Oh, I know, you’re very obstinate.”
“Yes, I am.”
“And observant.”
Katya cast a sidelong glance at Arkady.
“Perhaps so; does that annoy you?
What are you thinking about?”
“I’m wondering how you have grown to be so observant as you certainly are.
You are so shy and distrustful; you keep everyone at a distance . . .”
“I live so much alone; that in itself leads to thoughtfulness.
But do I keep everyone at a distance?”
Arkady flung a grateful glance at Katya.
“That’s all very well,” he went on; “but people in your position — I mean with your fortune, seldom possess that gift; it is hard for them, as it is for emperors, to get at the truth.”
“But, you see, I am not rich.”
Arkady was surprised and did not at once understand Katya.
“Why, as a matter of fact, the property is all her sister’s!” struck him suddenly; the thought was not disagreeable to him.
“How nicely you said that,” he remarked.
“What?”
“You said it nicely, simply, without either being ashamed or making much of it.