Marya Alekséyevna's anger lasted long, but she did not break open the door; finally, she got tired of shouting. Then Viérotchka said: "Mámenka, hitherto I simply have not loved you; but since last night, I pity you; you have had much sorrow, and that has made you what you are. Hitherto I have not talked with you, but now I want to talk; but only when you have got over being angry. We will talk kindly, as we never have before."
Of course, Marya Alekséyevna did not take these words much to heart; but weary nerves demand rest, and Marya Alekséyevna began to reason whether it would not be better to compromise with her daughter before she, the miserable creature, gets entirely out of her hands. "Besides, without her, nothing can be done; we can't marry her to Mishka, the fool, unless she's here to marry him, can we? Besides, I don't know yet what she has told him; they squeezed each other's hands; what does that signify?"
And thus the weary Marya Alekséyevna was reasoning between ferocity and cunningness, when suddenly the bell rang. It was Julie and Serge.
IV.
"Serge, does her mother speak French?" were Julie's first words when she awoke.
"I don't know; so you have not put that idea out of your head yet?"
"No, I have not."
And after taking into consideration all that they had seen in the theatre, they decided that in all probability this young girl's mother did not speak French. So Julie took Serge along with her as interpreter. At all events, such was his fate, and he would have had to go even if Viérotchka's mother had been the Cardinal Mezzofanti;[1] and he did not complain of his fate, but went everywhere with Julie, as though he were maid of honor to some heroine! Julie got up late, but on the way she stopped at Wickman's, and then, though it was not on her way, she went to four other stores because she needed certain articles. It was in this way that Mikhaïl Ivanuitch had ample time to explain himself, Marya Alekséyevna had ample time to get enraged and to get calmed down, before Julie and Serge came from the Liteinaïa bridge to the Gorokhovaïa Street.
- ↑ Mezzofanti (Giuseppe Gaspardo), chief keeper of the Vatican library, was said to have spoken over one hundred languages.
