Not knowing what to say I ask him: 

“Well, what have you to tell me?”

“Nothing,” he answers.

And silence again.  The red glow of the fire plays about his melancholy face.

I thought of the past, and all at once my shoulders began quivering, my head dropped, and I began weeping bitterly.  I felt unbearably sorry for myself and for this man, and passionately longed for what had passed away and what life refused us now.  And now I did not think about rank and wealth.

I broke into loud sobs, pressing my temples, and muttered: 

“My God! my God! my life is wasted!”

And he sat and was silent, and did not say to me:  “Don’t weep.”  He understood that I must weep, and that the time for this had come.

I saw from his eyes that he was sorry for me; and I was sorry for him, too, and vexed with this timid, unsuccessful man who could not make a life for me, nor for himself.

When I saw him to the door, he was, I fancied, purposely a long while putting on his coat.  Twice he kissed my hand without a word, and looked a long while into my tear-stained face.  I believe at that moment he recalled the storm, the streaks of rain, our laughter, my face that day; he longed to say something to me, and he would have been glad to say it; but he said nothing, he merely shook his head and pressed my hand.  God help him!

After seeing him out, I went back to my study and again sat on the carpet before the fireplace; the red embers were covered with ash and began to grow dim.  The frost tapped still more angrily at the windows, and the wind droned in the chimney.

The maid came in and, thinking I was asleep, called my name.

IN EXILE

Old Semyon, nicknamed Canny, and a young Tatar, whom no one knew by name, were sitting on the river-bank by the camp-fire; the other three ferrymen were in the hut.  Semyon, an old man of sixty, lean and toothless, but broad shouldered and still healthy-looking, was drunk; he would have gone in to sleep long before, but he had a bottle in his pocket and he was afraid that the fellows in the hut would ask him for vodka.  The Tatar was ill and weary, and wrapping himself up in his rags was describing how nice it was in the Simbirsk province, and what a beautiful and clever wife he had left behind at home.  He was not more than twenty five, and now by the light of the camp-fire, with his pale and sick, mournful face, he looked like a boy.

“To be sure, it is not paradise here,” said Canny.  “You can see for yourself, the water, the bare banks, clay, and nothing else....  Easter has long passed and yet there is ice on the river, and this morning there was snow...”

“It’s bad! it’s bad!” said the Tatar, and looked round him in terror.