Part 5 (1/2)
”No. You may go. Close the door.”
The old butler looked at them knowingly; then withdrew.
Kseniya turned at once to Polunin.
”I have told you everything. How is it you have not understood? Drink up your tea.”
”Tell me again,” he pleaded.
”Take your tea first; pour out the rum. I repeat I have already told you all. You remember about the mice? Did you not understand that?”
Kseniya Ippolytovna sat erect in her chair; she spoke coldly, in the same distant tone in which she had addressed the butler.
Polunin shook his head: ”No, I haven't understood.”
”Dear me, dear me!” she mocked, ”and you used to be so quick-witted, my ascetic. Still, health and happiness do not always sharpen the wits. You are healthy and happy, aren't you?”
”You are being unjust again,” Polunin protested. ”You know very well that I love you.”
Kseniya Ippolytovna gave a short laugh: ”Oh, come, come! None of that!” She drank her gla.s.s of tea feverishly, threw herself back in the chair, and was silent.
Polunin also took his, warming himself after his cold drive.
She spoke again after a while in a quiet dreamy tone: ”In this stove, flames will suddenly flare up, then die away, and it will become cold. You and I have always had broken conversations. Perhaps the Arkhipovs are right--when it seems expedient, kill! When it seems expedient, breed! That is wise, prudent, honest....” Suddenly she sat erect, pouring out quick, pa.s.sionate, uneven words:
”Do you love me? Do you desire me ... as a woman?... to kiss, to caress?... You understand? No, be silent! I am purged.... I come to you as you came to me that June.... You didn't understand about the mice?... Or perhaps you did.
”Have you noticed, have you ever reflected on that which does not change in man's life, but for ever remains the same? No, no, wait!...
There have been hundreds of religions, ethics, aesthetics, sciences, philosophical systems: they have all changed and are still changing-- only one law remains unaltered, that all living things--whether men, mice, or rye--are born, breed, and die.
”I was packing up for Nice, where a lover expected me, when suddenly I felt an overwhelming desire for a babe, a dear, sweet, little babe of my own, and I remembered you .... Then I travelled here, to Russia so as to bear it in reverence.... I am able to do so now!...”
Polunin rose and stood close to Kseniya Ippolytovna: his expression was serious and alarmed.
”Don't beat me,” she murmured.
”You are innocent, Kseniya,” he replied.
”Oh, there you go again!” she cried impatiently. ”Always sin and innocence! I am a stupid woman, full of beliefs and superst.i.tions-- nothing more--like all women. I want to conceive here, to breed and bear a child here. Do you wish to be the father?”
She stood up, looking intently into Polunin's eyes.
”What are you saying, Kseniya?” he asked in a low, grave, pained tone.
”I have told you what I want. Give me a child and then go--anywhere-- back to your Alena! I have not forgotten that June and July.”
”I cannot,” Polunin replied firmly; ”I love Alena.”
”I do not want love,” she persisted; ”I have no need of it. Indeed I have not, for I do not even love you!” She spoke in a low, faint voice, and pa.s.sed her hand over her face.
”I must go,” the man said at last.