“I burst out laughing. This was not the first time, nor yet the second, that he spoke to me thus, since he remained in that spot a whole month, to the neglect alike of his business and of his friends. He lived there quite alone, until I began to feel sorry for his loneliness. At length, one morning, I said to him——

“ ‘Alesha, meet me at dusk on the river bank, and we will go to your home together. I have had enough of my life of misery.’

“When night had fallen I made a bundle of my clothes. My heart was at once joyful and sad. Suddenly I saw my protector enter, though I had not been expecting him.”

“ ‘Good-evening,’ he said. ‘Come with me quickly, for a storm is brewing on the river, and we have little time to lose.’

“I rose and followed him, and we took the road to the river. What a long way it seemed! At length we sighted a small boat wherein there sat a rower whom I knew well. By his posture I could see that he was expecting some one.

“ ‘Good-evening, Alesha,’ said my protector. “God be with you! Perhaps something has delayed you, and you are waiting to return to your boats? Good fellow, pray ferry myself and my wife across the river to our friends. It is a long way thither, and I have allowed my own boat to depart, and it is over-far for us to swim.’

“ ‘Come, then,’ said Alesha; and my whole soul shivered at his voice.

“ ‘Sit down,’ he went on. ‘The wind is blowing right for every one, so let every one take passage in my beautiful boat.’

“We stepped in. The night was dark, starless, and very stormy, and the waves were running high. No one spoke until we had left the bank a verst behind.

“ ‘What a storm!’ said my protector. ‘Yes, it is a heavy storm. Never within my memory have I seen its like on the river. Soon it will be a hurricane. The boat is top-heavy, and we can no longer ride three in it.’

“ ‘No, we can no longer ride three in it. One of us is one too many.’ As Alesha uttered these words his voice was quivering like the string of a violin.

“ ‘Alesha, I have known you since you were a boy. I was your father’s friend, and you and I have eaten bread and salt together. Tell me, therefore, Alesha, could you reach yonder bank without the boat, or would you prefer to lose your soul for nothing?’

“ ‘I do not leave this boat,’ replied Alesha. ‘But what of yourself, good sir? If it should befall you to swallow a drop too much, it would mean no more than a somewhat comfortless moment.’

“ ‘I too do not leave this boat. The water would never bear me up. Hold! Do you too listen, Katerina my treasure. I can recall just such a night as this, except that the waves were not so large, and the moon and the stars were shining. I would ask you, then—Have you forgotten that night?’