第350章

第350章pierre’sface，whichhadbeenpalebefore，wasdistortedbyfury.withhisbighandheclutchedanatolebythecollarofhisuniform，andproceededtoshakehimfromsidetoside，tillanatole’sfaceshowedasufficientdegreeofterror.

“whenisayiwantawordwithyou…”pierrerepeated.

“well，what？thisisstupid.eh？”saidanatole，feelingabuttonofhiscollarthathadbeentornoffwiththecloth.

“you’reascoundrelandablackguard；andidon’tknowwhatpreventsmefrompermittingmyselfthepleasureofbrainingyouwiththis，see，”saidpierre，expressinghimselfsoartificially，becausehewasspeakingfrench.hetookupaheavypaper-weight，andlifteditinamenacingway，butatoncehurriedlyputitdowninitsplace.

“didyoupromisetomarryher？”

“i，i，…i…didn’tthink…ineverpromised，though，because…”

pierreinterruptedhim.

“haveyouanyofherletters？haveyouanyletters？”pierrerepeated，advancinguponanatole.anatoleglancedathim，andatoncethrusthishandinhispocket，andtookoutapocket-book.

pierretooktheletterhegavehim，andpushingawayatablethatstoodintheway，heplumpeddownonthesofa.

“iwon’tbeviolent，don’tbeafraid，”saidpierre，inresponsetoagestureofalarmfromanatole.“letters—one，”saidpierre，asthoughrepeatingalessontohimself.“two”—afteramoment’ssilencehewenton，gettingupagainandbeginningtowalkabout—“to-morrowyouaretoleavemoscow.”

“buthowcani…？”

“three”—pierrewenton，notheedinghim—“youarenevertosayawordofwhathaspassedbetweenyouandtheyoungcountess.thatiknowican’tpreventyourdoing；butifyouhaveasparkofconscience…”pierrewalkedseveraltimesupanddowntheroom.anatolesatatthetable，scowlingandbitinghislips.

“yousurelymustunderstandthat，apartfromyourownpleasure，there’sthehappiness，thepeaceofotherpeople；thatyouareruiningawholelife，simplybecauseyouwanttoamuseyourself.amuseyourselfwithwomenlikemywife—withthemyou’rewithinyourrights，theyknowwhatitisyouwantofthem.theyarearmedagainstyoubythesameexperienceofvice；buttopromiseagirltomarryher…todeceive，tosteal…surelyyoumustseethatit’sasbaseasattackinganoldmanorachild！…”

pierrepausedandglancedatanatole，morewithinquirynowthanwithwrath.

“idon’tknowaboutthat.eh？”saidanatole，growingbolderaspierregainedcontroloverhisrage.“idon’tknowaboutthat，andidon’twantto，”hesaid，lookingawayfrompierre，andspeakingwithaslightquiverofhislowerjaw，“butyouhavesaidwordstome，baseandallthatsortofthing，whichasamanofhonourican’tallowanyonetodo.”

pierrelookedathiminamazement，notabletounderstandwhatitwashewanted.

“thoughithasbeenonlytête-à-tête，”anatolewenton，“stillican’t…”

“what，doyouwantsatisfaction？”saidpierresarcastically.

“atanyrateyoumighttakebackyourwords.eh？ifyouwantmetodoasyouwish.eh！”

“i’lltakethemback，i’lltakethemback，”saidpierre，“andbegyoutoforgiveme.”pierrecouldnothelpglancingattheloosebutton.“andhere’smoneytoo，ifyouwantsomeforyourjourney.”

anatolesmiled.

theexpressionofthatbaseandcringingsmile，thatheknewsowellinhiswife，infuriatedpierre.“oh，youvile，heartlesstribe！”hecried，andwalkedoutoftheroom.

nextdayanatoleleftforpetersburg.