Two or three times, however, she could not refrain from slyly and good-humouredly reproaching him for not being open with her.

Nikolay Vsyevolodovitch smiled and remained silent.
The silence was taken as a sign of assent.

And yet, all the time she never forgot the cripple.

The thought of her lay like a stone on her heart, a nightmare, she was tortured by strange misgivings and surmises, and all this at the same time as she dreamed of Count K.'s daughters.
But of this we shall speak later.

Varvara Petrovna began again, of course, to be treated with extreme deference and respect in society, but she took little advantage of it and went out rarely.
She did, however, pay a visit of ceremony to the governor's wife.