interests and, perhaps, saving some fragments of their property. Yes, yes, all that is true. But still, still!… Ah now understand why they are all so concerned about Granny!"
"About whom?" asked Mr. Astley.
"That old witch in Moscow who won't die, and about whom they are expecting a telegram that she is dying."
"Yes, of course, all interest is concentrated on her. Everything depends on what she leaves them! If he comes in for a fortune the General will marry, Miss Polina will be set free, and De Grieux…"
"Well, and De Grieux?"
"And De Grieux will be paid; that is all he is waiting for here."
"Is that all, do you think that is all he's waiting for?"
"I know nothing more." Mr. Astley was obstinately silent.
"But I do, I do!" I repeated fiercely. "He's waiting for the inheritance too, because Polina will get a dowry, and as soon as she gets the money will throw herself on his neck. All women are like that! Even the proudest of them turn into the meanest slaves! Polina is only capable of loving passionately: nothing else. That's my opinion of her! Look at her, particularly when she is sitting alone, thinking; it's something predestined, doomed, fated! She is capable of all the horrors of life, and passion…she…she…but who is that calling me?" I exclaimed suddenly. "Who is shouting? I heard someone shout in Russian: Alexey Ivanovitch! A woman's voice. Listen, listen!"
At this moment we were approaching the hotel. We had left the café long ago, almost without noticing it.
"I did hear a woman calling, but I don't know who was being called; it is Russian. Now I see where the shouts come from," said Mr. Astley. "It is that woman sitting in a big armchair who has just been carried up the steps by so many flunkeys. They are carrying trunks after her, so the train must have just come in."
"But why is she calling me? She is shouting again; look, she is waving to us."
"I see she is waving," said Mr. Astley.
"Alexey Ivanovitch! Alexey Ivanovitch! Mercy on us, what a dolt he is !" came desperate shouts from the hotel steps.
We almost ran to the entrance. I ran up the steps and…my hands dropped at my sides with amazement and my feet seemed rooted to the ground.
