"I am listening,--I am taking nothing upon myself ..." Liza was beginning. "Listen to your heart; it alone will tell you the truth,"--Lavretzky interrupted her.... "Experience, reasoning--all that is stuff and nonsense! Do not deprive yourself of the best, the only happiness on earth." "Is it you, Feodor Ivanitch, who are speaking thus? You, yourself, married for love--and were you happy?" Lavretzky wrung his hands. "Akh, do not talk to me of that! You cannot even understand all that a young, untried, absurdly educated lad can mistake for love!... Yes, and in short, why calumniate one's self? I just told you, that I had not known happiness ... no! I was happy!" "It seems to me, Feodor Ivanitch,"--said Liza, lowering her voice (when she did not agree with her interlocutor, she always lowered her voice; and, at the same time, she became greatly agitated):--"happiness on earth does not depend upon us...." "It does, it does depend upon us, believe me," (he seized both her hands; Liza turned pale, and gazed at him almost in terror, but with attention):--"if only we have not ruined our own lives. For some people, a love-marriage may prove unhappy; but not for you, with your calm temperament, with your clear soul! I entreat you, do not marry without love, from a sense of duty, of renunciation, or anything else.... That, also, is want of faith, that is calculation,--and even worse. Believe me,--I have a right to speak thus: I have paid dearly for that right. And if your God...." At that moment, Lavretzky noticed that Lyenotchka and Schurotchka were standing beside Liza, and staring at him with dumb amazement. He released Liza's hands, said hastily: "Pray pardon me,"--and walked toward the house. "I have only one request to make of you,"--he said, returning to Liza:--"do not decide instantly, wait, think over what I have said to you. Even if you have not believed me, if you have made up your mind to a marriage of reason,--even in that case, you ought not to marry Mr. Panshin: he cannot be your husband.... Promise me, will you not, not to be in a hurry?" Liza tried to answer Lavretzky, but did not utter a word,--not because she had made up her mind "to be in a hurry"; but because her heart was beating too violently, and a sensation resembling fear had stopped her breath. XXX