a fortnight after her mother's funeral that I saw Natalia
Haldin for the last time.

In those silent, sombre days the doors of the _appartement_ on the
Boulevard des Philosophes were closed to every one but myself. I believe
I was of some use, if only in this, that I alone was aware of the
incredible part of the situation. Miss Haldin nursed her mother alone
to the last moment. If Razumov's visit had anything to do with
Mrs. Haldin's end (and I cannot help thinking that it hastened it
considerably), it is because the man, trusted impulsively by the
ill-fated Victor Haldin, had failed to gain the confidence of Victor
Haldin's mother. What tale, precisely, he told her cannot be known--at
any rate, I do not know it--but to me she seemed to die from the shock
of an ultimate disappointment borne in silence. She had not believed
him. Perhaps she could not longer believe any one, and consequently had
nothing to say to any one--not even to her daughter. I suspect that Miss
Haldin lived the heaviest hours of her life by that silent death-bed.
I confess I was angry with the broken-hearted old woman passing away in
the obstinacy of her mute distrust of her daughter.

When it was all over I stood aside. Miss Haldin had her compatriots
round her then. A great number of them attended the funeral. I was
there too, but afterwards managed to keep away from Miss Haldin, till I
received a short note rewarding my self-denial. "It is as you would have
it. I am going back to Russia at once. My mind is made up. Come and see
me."

Verily, it was a reward of discretion. I went without delay to receive
it. The _appartement_ of the Boulevard des Philosophes presented the
dreary signs of impending abandonment. It looked desolate and as if
already empty to my eyes.

Standing, we exchanged a few words about her health, mine, remarks as to
some people of the Russian colony, and then Natalia Haldin, establishing
me on the sofa, began to talk openly of her future work, of her plans.
It was all to be as I had wished it. And it was to be for life. We
should never see each other again. Never!

I gathered this success to my breast. Natalia Haldin looked matured by
her open and secret experiences. With her arms folded she walked up and
down the whole length of the room, talking slowly, smooth-browed, with a
resolute profile. She gave me a new view of herself, and I marvelled at
that something grave and measured in her voice, in her movements, in her