"But give her your hand on that, at least,"--said Marya Dmitrievna, whose tears were long since dried up. "Up to the present moment, I have not deceived Varvara Pavlovna,"--returned Lavretzky;--"she will believe me as it is. I will take her to Lavriki;--and recollect, Varvara Pavlovna: our compact will be regarded as broken just as soon as you leave that place. And now, permit me to withdraw." He bowed to both ladies, and hastily quitted the room. "You are not taking her with you,"--called Marya Dmitrievna after him.... "Let him alone,"--Varvara Pavlovna whispered to her, and immediately threw her arms round her, began to utter thanks, to kiss her hands, and to call her her saviour. Marya Dmitrievna accepted her caresses with condescension; but in her secret soul she was pleased neither with Lavretzky nor with Varvara Pavlovna, nor with the whole scene which she had planned. There had turned out to be very little sentimentality; Varvara Pavlovna, in her opinion, should have flung herself at her husband's feet. "How was it that you did not understand me?"--she commented:--"why, I told you: 'fall at his feet.'" "It was better thus, dear aunty; do not disturb yourself--everything is all right,"--insisted Varvara Pavlovna. "Well, and he is as cold as ice,"--remarked Marya Dmitrievna. "Even if you did not weep, why, I fairly overflowed before him. He means to shut you up in Lavriki. The idea,--and you cannot even come to see me! All men are unfeeling,"--she said, in conclusion, and shook her head significantly. "On the other hand, women know how to value kindness and magnanimity,"--said Varvara Pavlovna, and softly dropping on her knees before Marya Dmitrievna, she embraced the latter's corpulent form with her arms, and pressed her face against her. That face wore a quiet smile, but Marya Dmitrievna's tears were flowing again. And Lavretzky went home, locked himself up in his valet's room, flung himself on the divan, and lay there until the morning. XLIV