the stairs, tormented me the whole day;
it rose up and confronted me again and again, even in my pleasant
hours, when I had otherwise not a gloomy thought.

I must put an end to it, so I left the park hurriedly to fetch my
pencil from the pawnbroker's.

As I arrived at the foot of the hill I overtook two ladies, whom I
passed. As I did so, I brushed one of them accidentally on the arm. I
looked up; she had a full, rather pale, face. But she blushes, and,
becomes suddenly surprisingly lovely. I know not why she blushes; maybe
at some word she hears from a passer-by, maybe only at some lurking
thought of her own. Or can it be because I touched her arm? Her high,
full bosom heaves violently several times, and she closes her hand
tightly above the handle of her parasol. What has come to her?

I stopped, and let her pass ahead again. I could, for the moment, go no
further; the whole thing struck me as being so singular. I was in a
tantalizing mood, annoyed with myself on account of the pencil
incident, and in a high degree disturbed by all the food I had taken on
a totally empty stomach. Suddenly my thoughts, as if whimsically
inspired, take a singular direction. I feel myself seized with an odd
desire to make this lady afraid; to follow her, and annoy her in some
way. I overtake her again, pass her by, turn quickly round, and meet
her face-to-face in order to observe her well. I stand and gaze into
her eyes, and hit, on the spur of the moment, on a name which I have
never heard before--a name with a gliding, nervous sound--Ylajali! When
she is quite close to me I draw myself up and say impressively:

"You are losing your book, madam!" I could hear my heart beat audibly
as I said it.

"My book?" she asks her companion, and she walks on.

My devilment waxed apace, and I followed them. At the same time, I was
fully conscious that I was playing a mad prank without being able to
stop myself. My disordered condition ran away with me; I was inspired
with the craziest notions, which I followed blindly as they came to me.
I couldn't help it, no matter how much I told myself that I was playing
the fool. I made the most idiotic grimaces behind the lady's back, and
coughed frantically as I passed her by. Walking on in this manner--very
slowly, and always a few steps in advance--I felt her eyes on my back,
and involuntarily put down my head with shame for having caused her
annoyance. By degrees, a wonderful feeling stole over me o