there can be no happiness, mutual esteem alone is not enough' (at the word 'esteem' Litvinov involuntarily looked down) 'and better to separate now, than to repent later. Isn't it, aunt?'
'Yes, of course,' began Kapitolina Markovna, 'of course, Tanya darling, the man who does not know how to appreciate you . . . who could bring himself'
'Aunt, aunt,' Tatyana interrupted, 'remember what you promised me. You always told me yourself: truth, Tatyana, truth before everything—and independence. Well, truth's not always sweet, nor independence either; or else where would be the virtue of it?'
She kissed Kapitolina Markovna on her white hair, and turning to Litvinov, she went on:
'We propose, aunt and I, leaving Baden. . . . I think it will be more comfortable so for all of us.'
'When do you think of going?' Litvinov said thickly. He remembered that Irina had said the very same words to him not long before.
Kapitolina Markovna was darting forward, but Tatyana held her back, with a caressing touch on her shoulder.
'Probably soon, very soon.'
'And will you allow me to ask where you
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