"
"Torment you! I?... My dear Nicholas, never! But you are so childish in
your ideas--and are you unfortunate? I didn't know it. Is it about your
inventions that you are speaking? Well, they were never very happy, were
they?"
"You praised them to me!"
"Did I?... My foolish kindness of heart, I'm afraid. To tell the truth,
I was thankful when you saw things as they were..."
"You took them away from me."
"I took them away? What nonsense! It was your own wish--Vera's wish
too."
"Yes, you persuaded both Vera and Nina that they were no good. They
believed in them before you came."
"You flatter me, Nicholas. I haven't such power over Vera's opinions,
I'm afraid. If I tell her anything she believes at once the opposite.
You must have seen that yourself."
"You took her belief away from me. You took her love away from me."
Semyonov laughed. That laugh seemed to rouse Markovitch to frenzy. He
screamed out. "You have taken everything from me!... You will not leave
me alone! You must be careful. You are in danger, I tell you."
Semyonov sprang up from his chair, and the two men, advancing towards
one another, came into Bohun's vision.
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