He went to the window, and by the light of a street
lamp which stood just opposite the house, he read
the following lines:—
I beg you, I beseech you—don’t
come to see us, don’t show yourself all day
to-morrow. It’s necessary, absolutely
necessary for me, and then everything shall be settled.
I know you will not say no, because ...
‘GEMMA.’
Sanin read this note twice through. Oh, how touchingly
sweet and beautiful her handwriting seemed to him!
He thought a little, and turning to Emil, who, wishing
to give him to understand what a discreet young person
he was, was standing with his face to the wall, and
scratching on it with his finger-nails, he called him
aloud by name.
Emil ran at once to Sanin. ‘What do you
want me to do?’
‘Listen, my young friend...’
‘Monsieur Dimitri,’ Emil interrupted in
a plaintive voice, ’why do you address me so
formally?’
Sanin laughed. ’Oh, very well. Listen,
my dearest boy—(Emil gave a little skip
of delight)—listen; there you understand,
there, you will say, that everything shall be done
exactly as is wished—(Emil compressed his
lips and nodded solemnly)—and as for me
... what are you doing to-morrow, my dear boy?’
‘I? what am I doing? What would you like
me to do?’
’If you can, come to me early in the morning—and
we will walk about the country round Frankfort till
evening.... Would you like to?’
Emil gave another little skip. ’I say,
what in the world could be jollier? Go a walk
with you—why, it’s simply glorious!
I’ll be sure to come!’
‘And if they won’t let you?’
‘They will let me!’
’Listen ... Don’t say there
that I asked you to come for the whole day.’
‘Why should I? But I’ll get away
all the same! What does it matter?’
Emil warmly kissed Sanin, and ran away.
Sanin walked up and down the room a long while, and
went late to bed. He gave himself up to the same
delicate and sweet sensations, the same joyous thrill
at facing a new life. Sanin was very glad that
the idea had occurred to him to invite Emil to spend
the next day with him; he was like his sister.
‘He will recall her,’ was his thought.
But most of all, he marvelled how he could have been
yesterday other than he was to-day. It seemed
to him that he had loved Gemma for all time; and that
he had loved her just as he loved her to-day.
At eight o’clock next morning, Emil arrived
at Sanin’s hotel leading Tartaglia by a string.
Had he sprung of German parentage, he could not have
shown greater practicality. He had told a lie
at home; he had said he was going for a walk with
Sanin till lunch-time, and then going to the shop.
While Sanin was dressing, Emil began to talk to him,
rather hesitatingly, it is true, about Gemma, about
her rupture with Herr Klueber; but Sanin preserved
an austere silence in reply, and Emil, looking as
though he understood why so serious a matter should
not be touched on lightly, did not return to the subject,
and only assumed from time to time an intense and
even severe expression.
