She has deserved it, you will say.

She knows that and asks you for nothing; she says plainly that she dare not ask you.

But I, all of us, her relatives, all who love her, beg you, entreat you.

Why should she suffer? Who is any the better for it?" "Excuse me, you seem to put me in the position of the guilty party," observed Alexey Alexandrovitch.

"Oh, no, oh, no, not at all! please understand me," said Stepan Arkadyevitch, touching his hand again, as though feeling sure this physical contact would soften his brother-in-law.