ak strangely sometimes..."

He said the last words nervously.

"You say you have been happy, and that proves you have lived, not less,
but more than other people. Why make all these excuses?" interrupted
Aglaya in a mocking tone of voice. "Besides, you need not mind about
lecturing us; you have nothing to boast of. With your quietism, one
could live happily for a hundred years at least. One might show you the
execution of a felon, or show you one's little finger. You could draw
a moral from either, and be quite satisfied. That sort of existence is
easy enough."

"I can't understand why you always fly into a temper," said Mrs.
Epanchin, who had been listening to the conversation and examining the
faces of the speakers in turn. "I do not understand what you mean. What
has your little finger to do with it? The prince talks well, though he
is not amusing. He began all right, but now he seems sad."

"Never mind, mamma! Prince, I wish you had seen an execution," said
Aglaya. "I should like to ask you a question about that, if you had."

"I have seen an execution," said the prince.

"You have!" cried Aglaya. "I might have guessed it. That's a fitting
crown to the rest of the story. If you have seen an execution, how can
you say you lived happily all the while?"

"But is there capital punishment where you were?" asked Adelaida.

"I saw it at Lyons. Schneider took us there, and as soon as we arrived
we came in for that."

"Well, and did you like it very much? Was it very edifying and
instructive?" asked Aglaya.

"No, I didn't like it at all, and was ill after seeing it; but I confess
I stared as though my eyes were fixed to the sight. I could not tear
them away."

"I, too, should have been unable to tear my eyes away," said Aglaya.

"They do not at all approve of women going to see an execution there.
The women who do go are condemned for it afterwards in the newspapers."

"That is, by contending that it is not a sight for women they admit that
it is a sight for men. I congratulate them on the deduction. I suppose
you quite agree with them, prince?"

"Tell us about the execution," put in Adelaida.

"I would much rather not, just now," said the prince, a little disturbed
and frowning slightly.

"You don't seem to want to tell us," said Aglaya, with a mocking air.

"No,--the thing is, I was telling all about the execution a little while
ago, and--"

"Whom did you tell about it?"

"The man-servant, while I w