Page:Evgenii Zamyatin - We (Zilboorg translation).pdf/72

Rh still insist that that I of before is the real one; my I of late is, certainly, only an illness.)

Apparently R- read my thought in my face; he put his hand on my shoulders and laughed: “Oh, you! Adam! By the way, about Eve ” He searched for something in his pockets, took out a little book, turned over a few leaves, and said, “For the day after tomorrow—oh, no, two days from now—O-90 has a pink check on you. How about it? As before? You want her to?”

“Of course, of course!”

“All right then, I’ll tell her You see she herself is very bashful What a funny story! You see, for me she has only a pink-check affection, but for you And you, you did not even come to tell us how a fourth member sneaked into our triangle! Who is it? Repent, sinner! Come on!”

A curtain arose inside me; rustle of silk, green bottle, lips For no reason whatsoever I exclaimed (oh, why didn’t I restrain myself at that moment?), “Tell me, R-, did you ever have an opportunity to try nicotine or alcohol?”

R- sucked in his lips, looked at me from under his brows. I distinctly heard his thoughts: “Friend though he is, yet ” And he answered:

“What shall I say? Strictly speaking, no. But I know a woman ”

“I-330?” I cried.

“What! You? You, also?” R- was chuckled, ready to splash over.

My mirror was hanging in such a way that in order to see R- clearly I had to turn and look across the table. From my armchair I could see now only my own forehead and eyebrows. Then I, the real I, suddenly saw in the mirror a broken, quivering line of brow: I, the real I, heard suddenly a wild, disgusting cry: “What? What does that ‘also’ mean? What does that ‘also’ mean? I demand ”

Widely parted Negro lips Eyes bulging, I (the real