"No, wait a minute." She held his hand. "Let's talk about it,
it worries me. I seem to spend nothing unnecessary, but money
seems to fly away simply. We don't manage well, somehow."
"Oh, it's all right," he said with a little cough, looking at her
from under his brows.
That cough she knew well. It was a sign of intense
dissatisfaction, not with her, but with himself. He certainly
was displeased not at so much money being spent, but at being
reminded of what he, knowing something was unsatisfactory, wanted
to forget.
"I have told Sokolov to sell the wheat, and to borrow an advance
on the mill. We shall have money enough in any case."
"Yes, but I'm afraid that altogether..."
"Oh, it's all right, all right," he repeated. "Well, good-bye,
darling."
"No, I'm really sorry sometimes that I listened to mamma. How
nice it would have been in the country! As it is, I'm worrying
you all, and we're wasting our money."
"Not at all, not at all. Not once since I've been married have
I said that things could have been better than they are...."
"Truly?" she said, looking into his eyes.
He had said it without thinking, simply to console her. But when
he glanced at her and saw those sweet truthful eyes fastened
questioningly on him, he repeated it with his whole heart. "I
was positively forgetting her," he thought. And he remembered
what was before them, so soon to come.
"Will it be soon? How do you feel?" he whispered, taking her two
hands.
"I have so often thought so, that now I don't think about it or
know anything about it."
"And you're not frightened?"
She smiled contemptuously.
"Not the least little bit," she said.
"Well, if anything happens, I shall be at Katavasov's."
"No, nothing will happen, and don't think about it. I'm going
for a walk on the boulevard with papa. We're going to see Dolly.
I shall expect you before dinner. Oh, yes! Do you know that
Dolly's position is becoming utterly impossible? She's in debt
all round; she hasn't a penny. We were talking yesterday with
mamma and Arseny" (this was her sister's husband Lvov), "and we
determined to send you with him to talk to Stiva. It's really
unbearable. One can't speak to papa about it.... But if you and
he..."
"Why, what can we do?" said Levin.