" "Oh, Alexey Alexandrovitch, for heaven's sake, don't let us indulge in recriminations! What is past is past, and you know what she wants and is waiting for--divorce.

" "But I believe Anna Arkadyevna refuses a divorce, if I make it a condition to leave me my son.

I replied in that sense, and supposed that the matter was ended.

I consider it at an end," shrieked Alexey Alexandrovitch.