“He replaced his cap, but did not offer to salute us. Once more I took the lantern, to prevent my mother from showing him out (she was too ill to do so, yet I knew that she would make the attempt), and, without a word spoken, we gained the door of the yard. I was just opening the wicket for him, and driving back the dogs, when suddenly he doffed his cap, and made me a low bow. Next, he drew from his pocket a little box of red leather, opened it, and showed it me full of gleaming diamonds. ‘In the city,’ he said, ‘I have a sweetheart, and it was to her that I had meant to present these jewels; but now it shall be you, my fair one, that shall have them. Take them to adorn your beauty, or else trample them under your feet. Do with them just as you please.’ I took them, but did not trample them under my feet, for I had no wish to pay him such honour. I took them out of sheer bravado, and at the same time with a certain fixed intention. Re-entering the sitting-room, I laid them on the table before my mother. For a moment or two she remained silent, as though in doubt what to say. Then she grew paler still, and said——

“ ‘What are these, Katia?’

“ ‘Some diamonds for you, mother. The merchant has brought them. That is all I know.’

“Tears were streaming from her eyes, and her breath was coming in short gasps.

“ ‘They are not for me, Katia! They are not for me, you wicked girl! They are not for me——!’

“With what bitterness she uttered the words! Her very soul seemed to be weeping. As I looked at her I felt a momentary impulse to throw myself at her feet; but almost as instantly the evil spirit had me for its own again.

“ ‘Very well,’ I said. ‘If they are not for you, they must be for my father. On his return I will hand him the box, and say to him, “Some merchants have been here, and have left their goods behind them.” ’

“My mother only wept the more—did my poor mother!

“ ‘I will tell him who those merchants are,’ she cried, ‘as well as for what merchandise they came. I will let him know who is your rightful father, you heartless girl! You are no daughter of mine! You are a serpent! You are accursed!’

“I remained silent. No tears came to my eyes, for it was as though everything in me were dead. I returned to my room, and until morning listened to the storm. In me also there was a tempest raging.

“Five days passed, and towards evening on the fifth day my father returned, looking gloomy and out of temper. Although he told us that he had fallen ill on the journey, his bandaged hand told me that he had met with an enemy of former times. Yes, I divined what his illness really meant, as also the precise identity of that enemy. Yes, I understood everything. Saying nothing to my mother—not even asking her where I myself was—my father called his workmen, and bid them cease work and put the house in a state of defence. These were ominous signs. Until nightfall we sat waiting and waiting. Again it turned out a night of tempest. For my part, I went to my window, opened it, and sat weeping there, for my heart was on fire. I felt as though I should have liked to escape from the room, and to flee to the farthest end of the world, where the daylight and the storms have their birth, for my virgin breast was beating tumultuously. Suddenly, at a late hour (in the meanwhile I must have been dozing, or my thoughts must have gone astray), I heard a knocking outside the window, and a voice calling, ‘Open, open!’