“Vera and Tushin are coupled together in everybody’s mouth.”
“You said that Tychkov had dragged me in too.”
“Paulina Karpovna did that. She went out to find you in the evening when you were out late with Vera. You said something to her, apparently in jest, which she understood in her own way, and she has involved you. They say she had alienated you from Vera, with whom you were supposed to be in love, and she keeps on repeating that she dragged you from the precipice. What had you to do with her, and what is the tale about Vera? Perhaps you had been in her confidence for a long time, and you both kept silence with me--this is what your freedom has brought you to.” She sighed.
“That silly old bird got off too easily,” said Raisky, clenching his fists. “To-morrow I will have it out with her.”
“You have found someone whom you can call to account. What is the use of reproaching her? She is ridiculous, and no one cares what she says. But the old chatterbox Tychkov has established that on Marfinka’s birthday, Vera and Tushin had a long conversation in the avenue, that the day before she stayed out far into the night, and was subsequently ill, and he has put his own construction on Paulina Karpovna’s tale. He is trumpeting it in the town that it was not with you, but with Tushin that she was walking about at night. Then to crown all a drunken old woman made revelations about me. Tychkov has extracted everything....”
Tatiana’s eyes dropped, and her face flushed for a moment.
“That is another story,” said Raisky seriously, striding up and down the room. “The lesson you gave him was not sufficient. I will try a repetition of it.”
“What do you mean? God forbid that you should. You will try to prove that the tale is not true, which is not difficult; it is only necessary to know where Ivan Ivanovich spent the evening before Marfinka’s birthday. Supposing he was in his forest, then people will ask who was with Vera in the park. The Kritzki woman saw you at the top of the precipice, and Vera was--”
“What is to be done?” asked Raisky in fear for Vera.
“God’s judgments are put in the mouths of men,” whispered Tatiana Markovna sadly, “and they must not be despised. We must humble ourselves, and our cup is apparently not yet full.”