. . . I understand you very well; I can see that you are infected with these new ideas which will inevitably lead you to your ruin! but then it will be too late.'
'Perhaps; but you may rest assured of one thing: even in my ruin, I shall never hold out a finger to you for aid.'
'Conceit again, this awful conceit! Come, listen to me, Marianna, listen to me,' she went on, suddenly changing her tone.. . . She was on the point of drawing Marianna to her, but Marianna stepped back a pace. 'Écoutez-moi, je vous en conjure. After all, you know I am not so old and not so stupid that it's impossible for us to understand each other. Je ne suis pas une encroutée. I was even regarded as a republican in my young days . . . just as you are. Listen to me. I will not affect what I don't feel. I have never felt a mother's tenderness for you, and it's not in your character to complain of that . . . but I have recognised and I do recognise that I have duties in regard to you, and I have always tried to perform them. Perhaps the match I dreamed of for you, and for which Boris Andreitch and I, both of us, would have been ready to make any sacrifices . . . that suitor did not fully answer to your ideas . . . but from the bottom of my heart———'
Marianna looked at Valentina Mihalovna
82
