Raisky went to Vera, and his place with Tatiana Markovna was taken by Tushin.
Tatiana Markovna could not disguise her agitation when Ivan Ivanovich entered her room. He made his bow in silence.
“How did you find Vera?” she asked, after a pause.
“God grant that she is! But how much trouble all this has caused you,” she added in a low voice, trying to avoid his eyes.
“What does that matter, if Vera Vassilievna has peace.”
“She was beginning to recover, and I too felt happier, so long as our distress was concealed.” Tushin started as if he had been shot. “Ivan Ivanovich,” continued Tatiana Markovna, “there is all sorts of gossip in the town. Borushka and I in a moment of anger tore the mask from that hypocrite Tychkov--you have no doubt heard the story. Such an outburst ill fitted my years, but he had been blowing his own trumpet so abominably that it was unendurable. Now he, in his turn, is tearing the mask from us.”
“When he gossipped about me, no one took any heed, for I am already counted with my fathers. But with Vera it is different, and they have dragged your name into the affair.”
“Mine? with Vera Vassilievna’s? Please tell me what the talk is.”
When Tatiana Markovna had told the story he asked what she wished him to do.
“You must clear yourself,” she said. “You have been beyond reproach all your life, and must be again. As soon as Marfinka’s wedding is over I shall settle on my estate at Novosselovo for good. You should make haste to inform Tychkov that you were not in the town on the day before Marfinka’s fête-day, and consequently could not have been at the precipice.”
“Do just as you like, Ivan Ivanovich. But what else can you say?”
“I would rather not meet Tychkov. He may have heard through others that I certainly was in the town; I was spending a couple of days with a friend. I shall spread it about that I did visit the precipice on that evening with Vera Vassilievna, although that is not the case. I might add that I had offered her my hand and had met with a refusal, by which you, Tatiana Markovna, who gave me your approval, were aggrieved; that Vera Vassilievna felt bitterly the breach of our friendship. One might even speak of a distant hope ... of a promise....”