A few minutes later he continued:
“You see, you and I have different principles. You tried to grab everything that came in your way. I went from the opposite, because in theory I knew that the depth of feelings is directly proportional to the period of previous abstinence. As in the proverb "hunger is the best sauce".
- And how long have you abstained? - Covering his burning curiosity with irony, Vasily asked.
- Until I reached my limit.
- Well, when did you reach it?!
- When we left for the North.
Vasily silently stared at his friend for a minute, then got up, walked over to the window and watched for a long time how tall spruces swayed under the gusts of wind, waving their green paws.
How many gossip and talks at those times went about that Zolotilova lived with a handsome lover from St. Petersburg, who rents an apartment for her. How much pain, how much blood spoiled by jealousy cost him these conversations, despair and hatred came together in mortal combat with love and friendship, but the truth turned out to be completely different.
Yes, such surprises life brings to us. One must be able to endure it steadily.
Well, so you cheated me, my dearest!
And Vladimir was carrying it. Perhaps, never and with anyone he did not want to speak out so much as on that night with Vasily. An inner voice whispered to him that such an opportunity occurs only once in a life, and he was glad to take this opportunity to make it easier, to open his soul to a friend.
- Before that, we had three nights together. One in Crimea, you already know. This one, perhaps, was the most difficult. I tried, at my own peril and risk, to combine the incompatible in myself: monastic devotion to a higher will with oriental individual tranquility. I listened to her sleepy breathing, then ran as far as I could, so that the hot waves would not wash me away. I didn’t know yet, or rather, I wasn’t completely sure that she would belong to me, but even then I had a presentiment of how I would love this unsuspecting and peacefully sleeping creature. Her head pressed perceptibly against my chest, and she tried to say something - quickly and incoherently... she often talks in her sleep, cries, laughs... The second night is on your wedding night, after your wedding.
Vasily threw up his head:
- Yes, what happened to her then, can you explain!?
- The same: Marina is a strong personality, but at that moment she reached her limit. It was a breakdown. But creativity is a great gift from heaven. And she was given that evening to dance all her pain out. Then she felt better.
- What, and until then...
- Don't do this! Vasily, don't look back! It would be a recipe for disaster, for both of you. Well, for you, on a physical level, the consequences would have been less devastating at first. There could be no normal and long-term relationship between you, even if there were never me, Katya and other people in the story.
- Why so?
- Because if a wild monkey grabs a crystal ball in its paws, then the ball will inevitably be broken, and the monkey will injure its paws ... at least.
"From Eternal Pioint of View"