ney and dangerously increased
the excitement which already possessed him. He wiped the cold drops from
his brow and leaned for a moment against the brick wall behind him. He was
dizzy, confused and tired.

The tormenting thought that was driving him recalled his failing
consciousness of outer things. He straightened himself again and made a
step forward, as though he would cross the street, but paused again before
his foot had left the pavement. Then he asked of his senses how he had got
to the place where he stood. He did not remember traversing the familiar
highways and byways by which he was accustomed daily to make his way from
his lodging to the shop. Every object on the way had long been so well
known to him as to cause a permanent impression in his brain, which was
distinctly visible to him whenever he thought of the walk in any way,
whether he had just been over the ground or not. He could not now account
to himself for his being so near Fischelowitz's shop, and he found it
impossible to decide whether he had come thither by his usual route or
not. It was still harder to explain the reason for his coming, since the
fifty marks were no nearer to his hand than before, and without them it
was useless to think of entering. As he stood there, hesitating and trying
to grasp the situation more clearly, it grew, on the contrary, more and
more confused. At the same time the bells of a neighbouring church struck
the hour, and the clanging tone revived in his mind the other impression,
which had possessed it all day, the impression that his friends were at
that moment arriving at the railway station. The confusion in his thoughts
became intolerable, and he covered his eyes with one hand, steadying
himself by pressing the other against the wall.

He did not know how long he had stood thus, when an anxious voice recalled
him to outer things--a voice in which love, sympathy, tenderness and
anxiety for him had taken possession of the weak tones and lent them a
passing thrill of touching music.

"In Heaven's name--what is it? Speak to me--I am Vjera--here, beside you."

He looked up suddenly, and seemed to recover his self-possession.

"You came just in time, Vjera--God bless you. I--" he hesitated. "I
think--I must have been a little dizzy with the heat. It is a warm
evening--a very warm evening."

He pressed an old silk pocket-handkerchief to his moist brow, the
pocket-handkerchief which he always had about him, freshly