She did not play the
hypocrite. She at once unfolded her soul and her body, and her
heart is surely just as her breast--white and sound."
Sometimes Hope would whisper timidly in his ear:
"Perhaps all that was said of her was a lie."
But he recalled the eager certainty of his godfather, and the power
of his words, and this thought perished. He set his teeth more
firmly together and threw his chest still more forward. Evil
thoughts like splinters of wood stuck into his heart, and his heart
was shattered by the acute pain they caused.
By disparaging Medinskaya, Mayakin made her more accessible to his
godson, and Foma soon understood this. A few days passed, and
Foma's agitated feelings became calm, absorbed by the spring
business cares. The sorrow for the loss of the individual deadened
the spite he owed the woman, and the thought of the woman's
accessibility increased his passion for her. And somehow, without
perceiving it himself, he suddenly understood and resolved that he
ought to go up to Sophya Pavlovna and tell her plainly, openly,
just what he wanted of her--that's all! He even felt a certain joy
at this resolution, and he boldly started off to Medinskaya,
thinking on the way only how to tell her best all that was
necessary.
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