had ever known. And even Ivan, in the great anxiety
of his soul, found that a conscience unexpectedly clear can bring a
species of content less fleeting than any causeless light-heartedness.
He was giving little thought to others' thought of him. But Petersburg
was dull just now; and his behavior had been a godsend to the
_salons_.--Good Heavens--how they were using his name--and hers!

* * * * *

On the morning of April 30th, Petersburg was still a sea of mud: the
atmosphere still thick with rain. Spring was opening slowly. But the ice
had gone out of the Neva. Boats plied along the canals. And all the
world was packing away its furs. The day was intensely dreary. But the
heart of Vladimir de Windt, who was lounging idly about his desolate
apartment, was drearier still. How he missed that foolish Ivan, still
lost in the great unknown! How he railed at him, in secret, the while he
bravely defended him, single-handed, against the world; till the day
when he learned Ivan's prospect of utter calamity and took the knowledge
home with him to bear in solitude. It was a week, now, since the day of
his own interview with Brodsky. By this time the whole city knew
all!--Gregoriev's heart-history had been dragged gayly through the mud
of Petersburg society; and at last the curious world might write _finis_
upon a completed story--in which the lady was now safely married to
another; the man disgraced and degraded.--But the cause of this
disgrace, and its injustice, only de Windt knew or cared to know.

Even he could not guess, however, how Brodsky had discovered the
identity of Ivan's companion. But de Windt had borne the brunt of the
Colonel's rage when he learned it; and de Windt had endeavored to
obtain some sort of softening of the sentence pronounced upon the
unhappy boy.--It was vain. And even Vladimir, as he lay once more going
over the rapid events of the past weeks, never dreamed, in his heart,
that Ivan was not guilty in a certain way. Men must judge one another by
their own standards. De Windt had never thought Ivan effeminate--a
milk-sop; but, had he been made to believe the truth, it is probable that
one or the other of these epithets would then have expressed his opinion
of his friend.

The first charge made by Brodsky against his Lieutenant was that of
overstaying his leave--already for the length of seven days, and still
no prospect of return. The second charge, a far more serious o