The Kreutzer Sonata and Other Stories


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"'We were having some music.'  
"'I did not expect--,' she began at the same time, chiming in with the  
tone of the other.  
"But neither he nor she finished their remarks. The same rage that I had  
felt the previous week took possession of me. I felt the need of giving  
free course to my violence and 'the joy of wrath.'  
"No, they did not finish. That other thing was going to begin, of which  
he was afraid, and was going to annihilate what they wanted to say.  
I threw myself upon her, still hiding the dagger, that he might not  
prevent me from striking where I desired, in her bosom, under the  
breast. At that moment he saw . . . and, what I did not expect on his  
part, he quickly seized my hand, and cried:  
"'Come to your senses! What are you doing? Help! Help!'  
"I tore my hands from his grasp, and leaped upon him. I must have been  
very terrible, for he turned as white as a sheet, to his lips. His eyes  
scintillated singularly, and--again what I did not expect of him--he  
scrambled under the piano, toward the other room. I tried to follow him,  
but a very heavy weight fell upon my left arm. It was she.  
"
I made an effort to clear myself. She clung more heavily than ever,  
refusing to let go. This unexpected obstacle, this burden, and this  
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137 138 139 140 141

Quick Jump
1 73 145 218 290