"'Excellent! Capital!' he applauded me as my letter to Natasha
disappeared into the darkness of the box. 'I congratulate you with
all my heart. I am glad for you.'

"After walking a dozen paces with me the lawyer went on:

"'Of course, marriage has its good points. I, for instance, belong
to the class of people to whom marriage and home life is everything.'

"And he proceeded to describe his life, and lay before me all the
hideousness of a solitary bachelor existence.

"He spoke with enthusiasm of his future wife, of the sweets of
ordinary family life, and was so eloquent, so sincere in his ecstasies
that by the time we had reached his door, I was in despair.

"'What are you doing to me, you horrible man?' I said, gasping.
'You have ruined me! Why did you make me write that cursed letter?
I love her, I love her!'

"And I protested my love. I was horrified at my conduct which now
seemed to me wild and senseless. It is impossible, gentlemen, to
imagine a more violent emotion than I experienced at that moment.
Oh, what I went through, what I suffered! If some kind person had
thrust a revolver into my hand at that moment, I should have put a
bullet through my brains with pleasure.

"'Come, come . . .' said the lawyer, slapping me on the shoulder,
and he laughed. 'Give over crying. The letter won't reach your
fiancée. It was not you who wrote the address but I, and I muddled