You so insisted upon that that I should like a full explanation." "Madam, that is a secret that may be buried only in the grave!" answered the captain.
"Why ?" Varvara Petrovna asked, not quite so firmly.
"Madam, madam..." He relapsed into gloomy silence, looking on the floor, laying his right hand on his heart.

Varvara Petrovna waited, not taking her eyes off him.
"Madam!" he roared suddenly.

"Will you allow me to ask you one question?
Only one, but frankly, directly, like a Russian, from the heart ?" "Kindly do so." "Have you ever suffered madam, in your life ?" "You simply mean to say that you have been or are being ill-treated by some one." "Madam, madam!" He jumped up again, probably unconscious of doing so, and struck himself on the breast.

"Here in this bosom so much has accumulated, so much that God Himself will be amazed when it is revealed at the Day of Judgment." "H'm! A strong expression!" "Madam, I speak perhaps irritably...." "Don't be uneasy.

I know myself when to stop you." "May I ask you another question, madam ?" "Ask another question." "Can one die simply from the generosity of one's feelings ?" "I don't know, as I've never asked myself such a question." "You don't know! You've never asked yourself such a question," he said with pathetic irony.