I had not stolen it, but I felt as though I had stolen it and had
been caught in the theft. Tears actually came into my eyes. When
they were seated at dinner, Zinaida Fyodorovna said to Orlov in
French:

"There seem to be spirits in the flat. I lost my purse in the hall
to-day, and now, lo and behold, it is on my table. But it's not
quite a disinterested trick of the spirits. They took out a gold
coin and twenty roubles in notes."

"You are always losing something; first it's your watch and then
it's your money . . ." said Orlov. "Why is it nothing of the sort
ever happens to me?"

A minute later Zinaida Fyodorovna had forgotten the trick played
by the spirits, and was telling with a laugh how the week before
she had ordered some notepaper and had forgotten to give her new
address, and the shop had sent the paper to her old home at her
husband's, who had to pay twelve roubles for it. And suddenly she
turned her eyes on Polya and looked at her intently. She blushed
as she did so, and was so confused that she began talking of something
else.

When I took in the coffee to the study, Orlov was standing with his
back to the fire and she was sitting in an arm-chair facing him.

"I am not in a bad temper at all," she was saying in French. "But
I have been putting things together, and now I see it clearly. I
can give you the day and the hour when she stole my watch. And the
purse? There can be no doubt about it. Oh!" she laughed as she took
the coffee from me. "Now I understand why I am always losing my
handkerchiefs and gloves. Whatever you say, I shall dismiss the
magpie to-morrow and send Stepan for my Sofya. She is not a thief
and has not got such a repulsive appearance."

"You are out of humour. To-morrow you will feel differently, and
will realise that you can't discharge people simply because you
suspect them."

"It's not suspicion; it's certainty," said Zinaida Fyodorovna. "So
long as I suspected that unhappy-faced, poor-looking valet of yours,
I said nothing. It's too bad of you not to believe me, _George_."

"If we think differently about anything, it doesn't follow that I
don't believe you. You may be right," said Orlov, turning round and
flinging his cigarette-end into the fire, "but there is no need to
be excited about it, anyway. In fact, I must say, I never expected
my humble establishment would cause you so much serious worry and
agitation. You've lost a gold coin: never mind--you may have a
hundr