hatred of me is plain to be seen," she said to herself, not hearing his words, but gazing with horror at a cold and cruel judge who looked out of his eyes, and mocked her.
"That is not the cause," said she; "and I do not understand how my irritability, as you call it, can be caused by the fact that I have come absolutely into your power. How is my position indefinite? It seems to me the contrary."
"I am sorry that you are not willing to understand," he replied, obstinately determined to express his thought. "Its uncertainty comes from this,—that you think that I am free."
"Oh! as far as that goes, you can be perfectly easy," she said, turning from him, and beginning to drink her coffee. She took the cup, raising her little finger, and put it to her lips; and as she drank she looked at him, and by the expression of his face saw clearly that her motions and the sounds that she made in swallowing were repulsive to him.
"It is absolutely indifferent to me what your mother thinks, and how she intends to marry you off," said she, putting down the cup with trembling hand.
"We will not talk of that."
"Yes, we will too; and I assure you that a heartless woman, whether young or old,—your mother or anybody else,—does not interest me; and I don't want to know her."
"Anna, I beg you not to speak disrespectfully of my mother."
"A woman who has no conception of what the honor and happiness of her son consist in, has no heart."
"I repeat my request that you will not speak disrespectfully of my mother, whom I respect," reiterated the count, raising his voice, and looking severely at Anna.
She did not reply, but looked attentively at his face and his hands, and recalled with all its details, the scene of the evening before, and his passionate caresses "Just such caresses he has lavished, and will still continue to lavish, on other women," she thought.
