Page:The Novels of Ivan Turgenev (volume V).djvu/302

Rh Had he not himself put this fatal choice to her? It had not turned out as he had wished. . . there was that risk about every choice. She had changed her mind, it was true; she herself had declared at first that she would throw up everything and follow him; that was true too; but she did not deny her guilt, she called herself a weak woman; she did not want to deceive him, she had been deceived in herself. . . What answer could be made to that? At any rate she was not hypocritical, she was not deceiving him. . . she was open, remorselessly open. There was nothing forced her to speak out, nothing to prevent her from soothing him with promises, putting things off, and keeping it all in uncertainty till her departure. . . till her departure with her husband for Italy? But she had ruined his life, ruined two lives. . . . What of that? But as regards Tatyana, she was not guilty; the guilt was his, his, Litvinov's alone, and he had no right to shake off the responsibility his own sin had laid with iron yoke upon him. . . . All this was so ; but what was left him to do now? Again he flung himself on the sofa and again in gloom, darkly, dimly, without trace, with devouring swiftness, the minutes raced past. . ..