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164
SÖNYA KOVALÉVSKY
fair Aniuta, tall, slim, with a peculiar charm in her svelte
and graceful movements; whose large and lustrous
eyes, dark and blue, were fixed upon him fearlessly,
and yet with a certain indecision. At the dark Inez,
stout and clumsy, with her eagle nose, and an intrepid
look in her prominent eyes. At the fragile Sönya, with
her abundant curls, her pure, correct features, childish,
innocent forehead, and strange eyes, full of passionate
inquiry, of wonder, and of attention.
Aniuta at last commenced the conversation as they
had intended. Without the least sign of timidity she
asked the professor if he were willing to " free " them
by going through the marriage ceremony with one of
them, accompanying them to a university either in
Germany or Switzerland, and there leaving them. In
another country, or under other circumstances, a young
man could hardly listen to such a proposal from a
handsome girl without, in his answer, showing some foolish
gallantry, or expressing a touch of irony; but in this
case the man was equal to the occasion. Aniuta had
not been mistaken in her choice. The professor
answered, quite seriously and coldly, that such a
proposal he had not the least desire to accept. And the
girls? One would suppose that they must have felt
terribly humiliated by this flat refusal. Such, however,
was not the case. Feminine vanity had nothing to do
with the matter. The question of personally pleasing
the young man had never entered into their project.
They received his refusal as coolly as a young man
might do whose friend had not accepted an invitation
to travel abroad with him. So they all went off,
shaking hands with the professor at the door, and did not
meet with him again for many years. They felt sure
he woidd not abuse the confidence they had placed in
him, for he belonged to the secret brotherhood which,
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