"It's my belief," replied Sanine, "that three seconds before the pistol
went off he was uncertain whether to shoot himself or not. As he lived,
so he died."
"Ah! well," said the other, "at any rate, he's found a place for
himself."
This, to Ivanoff, as he tossed back his yellow hair, appeared to be the
last word in explanation of the tragic occurrence. Personally, it
soothed him much.
In the graveyard the scene was even more autumnal, where the trees
seemed splashed with dull red gold, while here and there the grass
showed green through the heaps of withered leaves. The tombstones and
crosses looked whiter in this dull setting.
So the black earth received Yourii.
Just at that awful moment when the coffin disappeared from view and the
earth became a barrier for ever between the quick and the dead, Sina
uttered a piercing shriek. Her sobs echoed through the quiet burial-
ground, painfully affecting the little group of silent mourners. She no
longer cared to hide her secret from the others who now all guessed it,
horrified that death should have separated this handsome young woman
from her lover to whom she had longed to give all her youth and beauty,
and who now lay dead in the grave.
They led her away, and the sound of her weeping gradually subsided. The
grave was hastily filled in, a mound of earth being raised above it on
which little green fir-trees were planted.
Schafroff grew restless.
"I say, somebody ought to make a speech. Gentlemen, this won't do!
There ought to be a speech," he said, hurriedly accosting the
bystanders in turn.
"Ask Sanine," was Ivanoff's malicious suggestion. Schafroff stared at
the speaker in amazement, whose face wore an inscrutable expression.
"Sanine? Sanine? Where's Sanine?" he exclaimed. "Ah! Vladimir
Petrovitch, will you say a few words? We can't go away without a
speech."
"Make one yourself, then," replied Sanine morosely. He was listening to
Sina, sobbing in the distance.
"If I could do so I would. He really was a very re... mark... able man,
wasn't he? Do, please, say a word or two!"
Sanine looked hard at him, and replied almost angrily. "What is there
to say? One fool less in the world. That's all!"
The bitter words fell with startling clearness on the ears of those
present. Such was their amazement that they were at a loss for a reply,
but Dubova, in a shrill voice, cried: "How disgraceful!"
"Why?" asked Sanine, shrugging his shoulders. Dubova sought to shout at
him, threatening him with her fists, but was restrained by several
girls who surrounded her. The company broke up in disorder. Vehement
sounds of protest were heard on every side, and like a group of
withered leaves scattered by the wind, the crowd dispersed. Schafroff
at first ran on in front, but soon afterwards came back again.
Riasantzeff stood with others aside, and gesticulated violently.