this... Ah, wait a bit!'

I tried to get up, but he shook me with such violence that I almost
shrieked with pain, and a stream of abuse, insult, and menace burst upon
me...

'Michel, Michel, where are you? save me,' I moaned.

Semyon Matveitch shook me again... That time I could not control
myself... I screamed.

That seemed to have some effect on him. He became a little quieter, let
go my arm, but remained where he was, two steps from me, between me and
the door.

A few minutes passed... I did not stir; he breathed heavily as before.

'Sit still,' he began at last, 'and answer me. Let me see that your
morals are not yet utterly corrupt, and that you are still capable of
listening to the voice of reason. Impulsive folly I can overlook, but
stubborn obstinacy--never! My son...' there was a catch in his
breath... 'Mihail Semyonitch has promised to marry you? Hasn't he?
Answer me! Has he promised, eh?'

I answered, of course, nothing. Semyon Matveitch was almost flying into
fury again.

'I take your silence as a sign of assent,' he went on, after a brief
pause. 'And so you were plotting to be my daughter-in-law? A pretty
notion! But you're not a child of four years old, and you must be fully