264
VLADIMIR DUDINSTEV
why are we deceiving each other here?" she whispered.
I was about to
~ay
something but she put her fingers on
my lips.
"You are
he,
of course you are!'
I guessed the truth.
"You think that I am- he . . . your former man?"
"Stop tormenting me ... Do you remember how you used
to hide from me the first time? Why are you punishing me?"
"But I am another person!" I yelled. "Look-I have
dif–
ferent hair, a different face. Nothing has been changed in me.
I have no scars. All this is mine!"
"You had no scars either the first time. But I guessed right.
I guessed at once! Now tell me why, when I called on you with
the letter and the watch, you suddenly changed the expression
on your face and asked: 'Was there love?' You wanted very
much to find out. I saw through your naive cunning." She
laughed.
"If
you only knew how glad those words made me!"
"I shall soon part from you forever," I said.
"We shall never part. I shall find you even if you run
away from me again and change not only your face, but every–
thing about you."
"I have less than a year to live. That
is
definite."
"I don't believe it. You have been saying that for so
many years!"
"But
he
said that, and he was murdered."
"They didn't kill him! You're smart. You've thought of
everything! And you ordered me to hand over everything to
your double-to yourself. You're a cunning one! They will
never get you. . . ."
"Ah, the devil! What nonsense this is... ."
He must have always cut her short like this too. She
laughed.
"I won't speak of it again. Even then you didn't like it.
Today you are even better than you were. You are gentler now,
you smile
so
wonderfully! And you speak so beautifully about
