ox. There it was, she did not want to
keep it any longer, not a day, not an hour, not a moment longer. She
urged him to take it.

What was it, eh? He took the box from her and turned it round, eyeing
it curiously. Well, what was he to do with it? He was about to open it,
but she held his hand fast. No, he must not open it nor look at it. She
might perhaps have regretted it then. "Put it away, put it away," she
cried hastily, turning her head aside. "It's the poison! Holy Mother,
the poison!"

"What poison?" He felt very astonished; where did this poison come from
all at once?

"From Gnesen--from the chemist's--you know, the rat poison," she cried
irately.

"Yes, I know." Now he remembered it.

"But----" he started. She had brought it to him to-day? And, _psia
krew!_ how strange she was. He stared at her with open mouth.

His stupid expression irritated her. Why did he stare at her like that?
Oh, yes, he could still look at her, but little was wanting and he
would never have been able to look at her again. And she would not have
been obliged to look at him either. "Alas, alas!" She buried her face
in her hands and groaned aloud. Now she had given it back, now she was
powerless, helpless, hopeless. "Give it back to me," she cried, and
tried to tear it out of his hand.

But this time he held it fast; he put his big fist, in which the little
box lay quite hidden, behind his back. "What am I to do with it?" he
asked, all at once suspicious. "I thought the rats had eaten it all,
and you've got some still?"

"No--yes, yes, they have--no, no, I didn't give it [Pg 174] all." Her
voice was unsteady, hesitating. She felt that he suspected something,
and it terrified her.

"Oh, I don't know, leave me," she said suddenly, in a faint voice, and
broke into a hopeless fit of sobbing, terrified and completely
confused.

"_Psia krew!_" Mr. Tiralla raised his brows, and his eyes wandered
restlessly from his wife to the little box in his hand, and then from
the poison to his wife. He opened the box. H'm, there were still five
whole powders left in it, and he had only brought six in the first
case. Yes, there had been six. And now? "There are still five powders
in it," he murmured.

He was only thinking aloud, but she immediately took it as an
accusation. Her pallor changed into burning red, she trembled and
swayed so much that she had to rest her hand on the table in order to
support herself. It was as though she were stand