I repeat, that to you I am more
than a friend, brother, comrade. And let's not talk about it any
more. And that which happened to-day toward morning, that, you may
be sure, won't be repeated. And I'll rent a separate room for you
this very day."
Liubka sighed. Not that she was offended by the chaste resolution
of Lichonin, in which, to tell the truth, she believed but badly;
but somehow her dark, narrow mind could not even theoretically
picture any other attitude of a man toward a woman than the
sensual. Besides that, she experienced the ancient discontent of a
preferred or rejected female; a feeling strongly intrenched in the
house of Anna Markovna, in the form of boastful rivalry, but now
dulled; yet still angry and sincere. And for some reason she
believed Lichonin but illy, unconsciously seizing much of the
assumed, not altogether sincere, in his words. Soloviev, now--
although he did speak incomprehensively, like the rest of the
majority of the students known to her, when they joked among
themselves or with the young ladies in the general room (by
themselves, in the room, all the men without an exception--all as
one--said and did one and the same thing)--she would rather
believe Soloviev, far more readily and willingly.
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