ble blow--terrible! I wept all through three
sleepless nights.

"He came every afternoon after lunch. You remember, don't you? Don't
answer. Listen. You used to make cakes that he was very fond
of--with flour, butter and milk. Oh, I know how to make them. I
could make them still, if necessary. He would swallow them at one
mouthful and wash them down with a glass of wine, saying: 'Delicious!' Do
you remember the way he said it?

"I was jealous--jealous! Your wedding day was drawing near. It was
only a fortnight distant. I was distracted. I said to myself: 'He shall
not marry Suzanne--no, he shall not! He shall marry me when I am old
enough! I shall never love any one half so much.' But one evening, ten
days before the wedding, you went for a stroll with him in the moonlight
before the house--and yonder--under the pine tree, the big pine
tree--he kissed you--kissed you--and held you in his arms
so long--so long! You remember, don't you? It was probably the first
time. You were so pale when you came back to the drawing-room!

"I saw you. I was there in the shrubbery. I was mad with rage! I would
have killed you both if I could!

"I said to myself: 'He shall never marry Suzanne--never! He shall
marry no one! I could not bear it.' And all at once I began to hate him
intensely.

"Then do you know what I did? Listen. I had seen the gardener prepare
pellets for killing stray dogs. He would crush a bottle into small pieces
with a stone and put the ground glass into a ball of meat.

"I stole a small medicine bottle from mother's room. I ground it fine
with a hammer and hid the glass in my pocket. It was a glistening powder.
The next day, when you had made your little cakes; I opened them with a
knife and inserted the glass. He ate three. I ate one myself. I threw the
six others into the pond. The two swans died three days later. You
remember? Oh, don't speak! Listen, listen. I, I alone did not die. But I
have always been ill. Listen--he died--you know--listen--that was not the
worst. It was afterward, later--always--the most terrible--listen.

"My life, all my life--such torture! I said to myself: 'I will never
leave my sister. And on my deathbed I will tell her all.' And now I have
told. And I have always thought of this moment--the moment when all
would be told. Now it has come. It is terrible--oh!--sister--

"I have always thought, morning and evening, day and night: 'I shall have
to tell her some day!' I waited. The