“Grandmamma,” Polina replied with deep feeling, “I am very, very grateful to you for the shelter which you have so kindly offered me. Also, to a certain extent you have guessed my position aright, and I am beholden to you to such an extent that it may be that I will come and live with you, and that very soon; yet there are important reasons why⁠—why I cannot make up my mind just yet. If you would let me have, say, a couple of weeks to decide in⁠—?”

“You mean that you are not coming?”