reign enough to me. I was upon the
whole favourably impressed. He had an air of intelligence and even
some distinction quite above the average of the students and other
inhabitants of the _Petite Russie_. His features were more decided
than in the generality of Russian faces; he had a line of the jaw,
a clean-shaven, sallow cheek; his nose was a ridge, and not a mere
protuberance. He wore the hat well down over his eyes, his dark hair
curled low on the nape of his neck; in the ill-fitting brown clothes
there were sturdy limbs; a slight stoop brought out a satisfactory
breadth of shoulders. Upon the whole I was not disappointed.
Studious--robust--shy.

Before Miss Haldin had ceased speaking I felt the grip of his hand on
mine, a muscular, firm grip, but unexpectedly hot and dry. Not a word or
even a mutter assisted this short and arid handshake.

I intended to leave them to themselves, but Miss Haldin touched me
lightly on the forearm with a significant contact, conveying a distinct
wish. Let him smile who likes, but I was only too ready to stay near
Nathalie Haldin, and I am not ashamed to say that it was no smiling
matter to me. I stayed, not as a youth would have stayed, uplifted, as
it were poised in the air, but soberly, with my feet on the ground and
my mind trying to penetrate her intention. She had turned to Razumov.

"Well. This is the place. Yes, it is here that I meant you to come. I
have been walking every day.... Don't excuse yourself--I understand.
I am grateful to you for coming to-day, but all the same I cannot
stay now. It is impossible. I must hurry off home. Yes, even with you
standing before me, I must run off. I have been too long away.... You
know how it is?"

These last words were addressed to me. I noticed that Mr. Razumov passed
the tip of his tongue over his lips just as a parched, feverish man
might do. He took her hand in its black glove, which closed on his,
and held it--detained it quite visibly to me against a drawing-back
movement.

"Thank you once more for--for understanding me," she went on warmly. He
interrupted her with a certain effect of roughness. I didn't like him
speaking to this frank creature so much from under the brim of his hat,
as it were. And he produced a faint, rasping voice quite like a man with
a parched throat.

"What is there to thank me for? Understand you?... How did I
understand you?... You had better know that I understand nothing.
I was aware that you wan