Or, perhaps, although he did know this, he still could
not change the established tone. As for the intimate relations, he
inevitably played a secondary, passive role. The initiative, in
the form of tenderness, caressing, always had to come from Liubka
(she had remained Liubka, after all, and Lichonin had somehow
entirely forgotten that he himself had read her real name--Irene--
in the passport).
She, who had so recently given her body up impassively--or, on the
contrary, with an imitation of burning passion--to tens of people
in a day, to hundreds in a month, had become attached to Lichonin
with all her feminine being, loving and jealous; had grown
attached to him with body, feeling, thoughts. The prince was funny
and entertaining to her, and the expansive Soloviev interestingly
amusing; toward the crushing authoritativeness of Simanovsky she
felt a supernatural terror; but Lichonin was for her at the same
time a sovereign, and a divinity; and, which is the most horrible
of all, her property and bodily joy.
It has long ago been observed, that a man who has lived his fill,
has been worn out, gnawed and chewed by the jaws of amatory
passions, will never again love with a strong and only love,
simultaneously self-denying, pure, and passionate.
Pages:
388
389
390
391
392
393
394
395
396
397
398
399
400
401
402
403
404
405
406
407
408
409
410
411
412