curious person. I was only sure that he had
fallen in love With Polina. A remarkable and diverting circumstance is
the amount which may lie in the mien of a shy and painfully modest man
who has been touched with the divine passion--especially when he would
rather sink into the earth than betray himself by a single word or
look. Though Mr. Astley frequently met us when we were out walking, he
would merely take off his hat and pass us by, though I knew he was
dying to join us. Even when invited to do so, he would refuse. Again,
in places of amusement--in the Casino, at concerts, or near the
fountain--he was never far from the spot where we were sitting. In
fact, WHEREVER we were in the Park, in the forest, or on the
Shlangenberg--one needed but to raise one's eyes and glance around to
catch sight of at least a PORTION of Mr. Astley's frame sticking
out--whether on an adjacent path or behind a bush. Yet never did he
lose any chance of speaking to myself; and, one morning when we had
met, and exchanged a couple of words, he burst out in his usual abrupt
way, without saying "Good-morning."

"That Mlle. Blanche," he said. "Well, I have seen a good many women
like her."

After that he was silent as he looked me meaningly in the face. What he
meant I did not know, but to my glance of inquiry he returned only a
dry nod, and a reiterated "It is so." Presently, however, he resumed:

"Does Mlle. Polina like flowers?"

"I really cannot say," was my reply.

"What? You cannot say?" he cried in great astonishment.

"No; I have never noticed whether she does so or not," I repeated with
a smile.

"Hm! Then I have an idea in my mind," he concluded. Lastly, with a nod,
he walked away with a pleased expression on his face. The conversation
had been carried on in execrable French.

IV

Today has been a day of folly, stupidity, and ineptness. The time is
now eleven o'clock in the evening, and I am sitting in my room and
thinking. It all began, this morning, with my being forced to go and
play roulette for Polina Alexandrovna. When she handed me over her
store of six hundred gulden I exacted two conditions--namely, that I
should not go halves with her in her winnings, if any (that is to say,
I should not take anything for myself), and that she should explain to
me, that same evening, why it was so necessary for her to win, and how
much was the sum which she needed. For, I could not suppose that she
was doing all this merely for