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Rh "Why shouldn't you postpone it if it seems to you better?"

"But how will he take it?"

"When you see how he takes it, then you can decide what is best to be done."

"But it is hard for me to tell him."

"If that is the case, then let your bátiushka tell him."

"I don't want to get behind anybody's back; I shall tell him myself."

"If you feel strong enough to tell him yourself, then it would be much better."

Of course, with others, Viéra Pavlovna for example, it would not have done to drag out the affair so tediously; but every temperament has its own demands. If a hot-tempered man is irritated by slow methods, then a slow man is vexed by an abrupt measure.

Katerina Vasílyevna's success in dealing with her "bridegroom" exceeded Kirsánof's expectations. He thought that Sólovtsof would be able to guard his interests, that he would prolong the matter by humiliation and gentle entreaties. No, with all his tact, Sólovtsof could not control himself when he saw that great wealth was slipping out of his hands, and he himself let go of the slight chances which he still had. He poured out sharp reproaches on Pólozof, who he declared was intriguing against him, and he said to Katerina Vasílyevna that she gave her father too great power over her, that she was afraid of him, and was acting now at his command. But Pólozof did not know as yet about his daughter's decision to delay the wedding; the daughter constantly felt that he gave her perfect freedom. The reproaches heaped upon her father grieved her by their unfairness, and they insulted her because by them Sólovtsof expressed his views in regard to her as a being deprived of will and character.

"It seems to me that you take me to be a plaything in the hands of others."

"Yes," said he in his irritation.

"I was ready to die, not regarding my father's will, and you don't appreciate it. From this moment everything is ended between us," said she, and quickly left the room.