ips dry. He was
nervously smoking a cigarette and frequently got up from the divan to
take the decanter of water off the table, and avidly, straight from its
mouth, drink several big draughts. Then, by some accidental effort of
the will, he succeeded in tearing his thoughts away from the past
night, and at once a heavy sleep, without any visions and images,
enveloped him as though in black cotton.

He awoke long past noon, at two or three o'clock; at first could not
come to himself for a long while; smacked his lips and looked around
the room with glazed, heavy eyes. All that had happened during the
night seemed to have flown out of his memory. But when he saw Liubka,
who was quietly and motionlessly sitting on the bed, with head lowered
and hands crossed on her knees, he began to groan and grunt from
vexation and confusion. Now he recalled everything. And at that minute
he experienced in his own person how heavy it is to see in the morning,
with one's own eyes, the results of folly committed the night before.

"Are you awake, sweetie?" asked Liubka kindly.

She got up from the bed, walked up to the divan, sat down at Lichonin's
feet, and cautiously patted his blanket-covered leg.

"Why, I woke up long ago and was sitting all the while; I was afraid to
wake you up. You were sleeping so very soundly!"

She stretched toward him and kissed him on the cheek. Lichonin made a
wry face and gently pushed her away from him.

"Wait, Liubochka! Wait; that's not necessary. Do you
understand--absolutely, never necessary. That which took place
yesterday--well, that's an accident. My weakness, let's say. Even more,
a momentary baseness, perhaps. But, by God, believe me, I didn't at all
want to make a mistress out of you. I want to see you my friend, my
sister, my comrade ... Well, that's nothing, then; everything will
adjust itself, grow customary. Only one mustn't fall in spirit. And in
the meanwhile, my dear, go to the window and look out of it a bit; I
just want to put myself in order."

Liubka slightly pouted her lips and walked off to the window, turning
her back on Lichonin. All these words about friendship, brotherhood and
comradeship she could not understand with her brain of a hen and her
simple peasant soul. That a student--after all, not just anybody, but
an educated man, who could learn to be a doctor, or a lawyer, or a
judge--had taken her for maintenance flattered her imagination far more
... And here, now, it tu