Page:The Novels of Ivan Turgenev (volume XIV).djvu/316

Rh 'Go away,' Ivan Afanasiitch moaned into the cushion.

'No, I'm not going away, Ivan Afanasiitch. Who's to speak, if I don't? Why, upon my word! Here, you're breaking your heart now and over what? Eh, over what? tell me that!'

'Oh, go away, Onisim,' Pyetushkov moaned again. Onisim, for propriety's sake, was silent for a little while.

'And another thing,' he began again, 'she's no feeling of gratitude whatever. Any other girl wouldn't know how to do enough to please you; while she! she doesn't even think of you. Why, it's simply a disgrace. Why, the things people are saying about you, one cannot repeat them, they positively cry shame on me. If I could have known beforehand, I'd have'

'Oh, go away, do, devil!' shrieked Pyetushkov, not stirring from his place, however, nor raising his head.

'Ivan Afanasiitch, for mercy's sake,' pursued the ruthless Onisim. 'I'm speaking for your good. Despise her, Ivan Afanasiitch; you simply break it off. Listen to me, or else I'll fetch a wise woman; she'll break the spell in no time. You'll laugh at it yourself, later on; you'll say to me, "Onisim, why, it's marvellous how such things happen sometimes!" You just consider yourself: girls like her, they're like dogs you've only to whistle to them'