teeth, brandishing one fist before his face with an expression as
though some one had trodden on his corns. "I did not notice that
he came every day! I did not notice that he came today in a closed
carriage! What did he come in a closed carriage for? And I did not
see it! Noodle!"

"I don't understand . . ." muttered the doctor. "Why, what's the
meaning of it? Why, it's an outrage on personal dignity, a mockery
of human suffering! It's incredible. . . . It's the first time in
my life I have had such an experience!"

With the dull surprise of a man who has only just realized that he
has been bitterly insulted the doctor shrugged his shoulders, flung
wide his arms, and not knowing what to do or to say sank helplessly
into a chair.

"If you have ceased to love me and love another--so be it; but
why this deceit, why this vulgar, treacherous trick?" Abogin said
in a tearful voice. "What is the object of it? And what is there
to justify it? And what have I done to you? Listen, doctor," he
said hotly, going up to Kirilov. "You have been the involuntary
witness of my misfortune and I am not going to conceal the truth
from you. I swear that I loved the woman, loved her devotedly, like
a slave! I have sacrificed everything for her; I have quarrelled
with my own people, I have given up the service and music, I have
forgiven her what I could not have forgiven my own mother or sister
. . . I have never looked askance at her. . . . I have never gainsaid
her in anything. Why this deception? I do not demand love, but why
this loathsome duplicity? If she did not love me, why did she not
say so openly, honestly, especially as she knows my views on the