“No. This is the first time that I have been ill. . . . I do not know. Have I been ill? At all events I am not going to be so any more. I have had enough of illness. . . . Oh, I do not know what is wrong with me!” he added in a choking voice as he seized Katerina’s hand. “Stay here with me. Do not leave me alone. Give me your hand, your hand! . . . You simply blind me! You look to me like the sun himself!” He cried these last words as though they were torn from his very heart, while sobs choked his bosom.

“Poor boy! Probably you have always lived with unkind people. Are you alone in the world—quite alone? Have you no kinsfolk?”

“No, none at all. I am quite alone. . . . But what does that matter? Everything will be better now, for I am quite well again.” He was speaking almost deliriously. Indeed, the room seemed to be turning round and round.

“I too have always been a lonely person,” she said after a pause. “But how you stare at me! What is it? One would almost suppose my eyes were scorching you! You know, when one is in love——But what am I saying? From the first moment that I saw you I allotted you a warm corner in my heart. If you are ill I will tend you as I would myself. . . . But you must not be ill any more. No. When you are quite well again we will be as brother and sister to one another. Will we not? Would you like it? A sister is such a difficult person to find when God has not given one one.”

“Who are you, and where do you come from?” murmured Ordynov.

“From nowhere near here. . . . What do you occupy your time with? . . . Do you know this story? Once upon a time there were twelve brothers who lived in a great forest; and one day, when they were absent, a beautiful girl who had lost her way in the forest entered their house, set it all to rights, and left upon everything the imprint of her care. On their return home the brothers guessed that a woman had been to visit them, and sent for her, and she appeared. Each of them called her his ‘sister,’ and permitted her to retain her cherished liberty. So she remained at once their sister and their equal. . . . Have you heard the story before?”

“Yes,” said Ordynov.

“But life ought to be lived to the full. Do you enjoy life?”

“Yes, yes!” cried Ordynov. “I should like to live a long, long time—a whole century of existence!”

“I am not so sure about that,” said Katerina pensively. “I think that I would rather be dead. However, it is right to love life and good people. . . . But look at you! Why, you have turned as white as a sheet!”