第274页 / 共2288页

"I? Do you think so? I'm not queer, but I'm nasty. I am like that

sometimes. I keep feeling as if I could cry. It's very stupid,

but it'll pass off," said Anna quickly, and she bent her flushed

face over a tiny bag in which she was packing a nightcap and some

cambric handkerchiefs. Her eyes were particularly bright, and

were continually swimming with tears. "In the same way I didn't

want to leave Petersburg, and now I don't want to go away from

here."

"You came here and did a good deed," said Dolly, looking intently

at her.

Anna looked at her with eyes wet with tears.

"Don't say that, Dolly. I've done nothing, and could do nothing.

I often wonder why people are all in league to spoil me. What

have I done, and what could I do? In your heart there was found

love enough to forgive...."

"If it had not been for you, God knows what would have happened!

How happy you are, Anna!" said Dolly. "Everything is clear and

good in your heart."

"Every heart has its own skeletons, as the English say."