"But what are you talking about?" he said, horrified at her expression of despair, and again bending over her, he took her hand and kissed it.

" What is it for? Do I seek amusements outside our home? Don't I avoid the society of women?" "Well, yes! If that were all!" she said.

"Come, tell me what I ought to do to give you peace of mind? I am ready to do anything to make you happy," he said, touched by her expression of despair; "what wouldn't I do to save you from distress of any sort, as now, Anna!" he said.

"It's nothing, nothing!" she said.