making children's toys at his turning lathe, with a
tranquil smile on his face.

"'How,' said I, 'is it possible that your conscience can allow you to
be at peace for an instant, when the thought of the horrible crime you
have been guilty of must perpetually sting you like a serpent's tooth?'

"He laid down his tools, and stared at me in astonishment.

"'What do you mean, my good sir?' he said. 'Sit down on that chair
there.'

"But I went on, with much warmth, and distinctly accused him of having
caused Antonia's death, threatening him with the vengeance of Heaven.
Nay more, being full of juridical zeal--as I had just been inducted
into a judicial appointment--I went on to assure him that I should
consider it my duty to leave no stone unturned to bring the affair
thoroughly to light, so as to deliver him into the hands of earthly
justice. I was a little put out, I admit, when, on the conclusion of my
rather pompous harangue, Krespel, without a word in reply, merely
looked at me as if waiting for what I had to say next: and I tried to
find something further to add: but everything that occurred to me
seemed so silly and feeble that I held my peace. He seemed rather to
enjoy this breakdown in my eloquence, and a bitter smile passed over
his face, but then he became very grave, and said in a solemn tone:

"'My good young sir! Very likely you think me a fool--or a madman. I
forgive you. We are both in the same madhouse, and you object to my
thinking myself God the Father, because you think you are God the Son.
How do you suppose you can enter into another person's life, utterly
unknown to you in all its complicated turnings and windings, and pick
up and follow all its deeply hidden threads? She is gone, and the
riddle is solved!'

"He stopped, rose, and walked two or three times up and down the room.
I ventured to ask for some explanation. He looked at me fixedly, took
me by the hand, and led me to the window, opening both the outside
jalousies. He leaned upon the sill with both his arms, and, so looking
out into the garden, he told me the story of his life.

"When he had ended, I left him deeply affected, and bitterly ashamed.

"To make a long tale short, matters as concerned Antonia stood as
follows:

"Some twenty years previously, his fancy of making a collection of the
finest violins of the great old makers had taken him to Italy. At that
time he had not begun to make violins himself, neither, consequently,
to