“Well, if you do, so much the better, and you can go back to her!”

“Só-o-onya! Look here! How can you torture me and yourself like that, for a mere fancy?” said Nikoláy taking her hand.

Sónya did not pull it away, and left off crying. Natásha, not stirring and scarcely breathing, watched from her ambush with sparkling eyes. “What will happen now?” thought she.

“Sónya! What is anyone in the world to me? You alone are everything!” said Nikoláy. “And I will prove it to you.”

“I don’t like you to talk like that.”

“Well, then, I won’t; only forgive me, Sónya!” He drew her to him and kissed her.

“Oh, how nice,” thought Natásha; and when Sónya and Nikoláy had gone out of the conservatory she followed and called Borís to her.