him for so
long.--Ah! If it were--if it were only easier to _die_!--But I'm a
coward, you see."

"I do not think you are a coward, mademoiselle," replied Ivan, gravely.

"Ah, monsieur, you do not know! Months ago I understood that the world
has no room for a young woman who is poor and yet--not ugly. We should
be better out of it."

"If you are sure that your case is as serious as this, you will not
refuse me the pleasure you can give--"

"Monsieur!" Irina sprang to her feet, her eyes brilliant with anger.

"You misunderstand me, mademoiselle, entirely!" cried Ivan, horrified at
her interpretation of his words. "What I mean is this. Your father is in
debt, on your account, to a man who has proved himself dishonorable. I
propose to free you from persecution by transferring that debt to one
who will take nothing but honorable payment--at any convenient time, in
amounts of any size that you or your father find yourselves able to pay.
Here, at once, Mademoiselle Irina, I will give you five thousand roubles
in notes, with which you can discharge your obligations to Brodsky, and
repay me at your leisure."

The ensuing five minutes proved even more distressing than Ivan,
anticipating them, had feared. The young lady was of a temperament both
emotional and dramatic. And her behavior, to a man to whom scenes were
abhorrent, proved trying in the extreme. In the end, after the amount of
protestation and rather affected timidity which she evidently thought
proper, Ivan's offer was accepted; and the expression of her gratitude
that followed, caused Ivan to terminate the business somewhat brusquely
by calling the lady's attention to the time, and then escorting her to
within a hundred yards of the station. That her relief was genuine and
deep she proved, by persisting in explanations of what Ivan's act must
mean to her; but he regained a certain amount of his usual
unconsciousness, upon perceiving that she was really talking as much to
herself as to him, as she laid out her plans of payment and magnificent
schemes for her own subsequent career. It was to his own astonishment
that her benefactor, finally bidding her good-bye, found himself asking
for her Petersburg address--which proved to be a humble street on
Vassily Island--and found himself thinking with some pleasure of seeing
her again.

Upon his return to his quarters, moreover, Ivan might have gone further
than he did in his little analysis of the adventures of the eve