at last the earth was cloaked in darkness, the torches hung like gleaming balls of fire, the pattering of the rain echoed dismally, and above it, drowning all other sounds, was the dreary roar of the factory.

he sauntered through the straight-cut avenues of the park towards his club, but near the school turned aside and went in to see nina. they had known each other from childhood, attending the same school, nina his faithful comrade and devoted slave—and ever since he had remained for her the one and only man, for she was of those who love but once. since then she had been flung about russia, striven to retain her honour, vainly tilting against the windmills of poverty and temptation—had failed, been broken, and now had crept back that she might live near him.

he walked through the school's dark corridors and knocked.

"come in."

alone, in a grey dress, plain-featured, her cheek red where it had rested against the palm of her hand, she sat beside a little table in the bare, simple room, a book on her lap. with a pang, agrenev noted her sunken eyes. but at sight of him they brightened instantly, and she rose from her seat, putting the book aside.

"you darling? welcome! is it raining?"

"greeting! nina. i have just come in for a moment."

"take off your coat," she urged. "you will have some tea?" her eyes and outstretched hands both said: "thank you, thank you." "how are you doing?" she asked him anxiously.

"i am bored. i can do nothing. i am utterly bored."

she placed the tea-urn on the table in her tiny kitchen, laid some pots of jam by her copy-book, seated him in the solitary armchair, and bustled round, all smiles, her cheeks flushing—the spot where she had rested her hand all the long evening still showing red,—all- loving, all-surrendering, yet undesired.

"you musn't wait on me like this, nina," agrenev protested;"… sit down and let us talk."

their hands touched caressingly, and she sat down beside him.

"what is it, my dear?" she stroked his hand and its touch warmed her!

"what is it?"

at times indignation overcame her at the thought of life; she wrung her hands, spoke with hatred, and her eyes darkened in anger. at times she fell on her knees in tears and supplication; but with alexander alexandrovitch she was always tender, with the tenderness of unrequited love.

"what is it, darling?"

"i am bored, nina. she … anna … does not love me; she does not leave me, nor deceive me, but neither does she love me. i know you love …"

at home four walls … coldness … the miner, bitska, making jokes all day in the rain … the fuse to be lighted in the quarry, the slow igniting to be watched. thirty years had been lived … five- tenths of his life … a half … ten-twentieths. it was like a blank cartridge … no kindness … a life without feeling … all blank …

the lamp seemed to go out and something warm lay over his eyes. the palm of a hand. nina's words were calm at first; then they grew frantic.

"leave her, leave her, darling! come to me, to me who wants you! what if she doesn't love you? i do, i love you …"

he was silent.

"you say nothing? i will give you all; you shall have everything! come to me, to me who will give to you so gladly! she is as dead; she needs nothing! do you hear? you have me … i will take all the suffering on myself …"

the lamp streamed forth clearly again. a little grey clod of humanity fell on to the maiden's narrow bed.

it was so intensely dark that the blackness seemed to close in on one like a great wall, and it was difficult to see two paces ahead. close to the barracks some men were bawling to the music of a mouth-organ. under cover of the gloom someone whistled between his fingers, babbling insolence and nonsense. the torches glowed through the tangled network of branches and leaves like globes of fire.

agrenev walked along, carrying a lantern, by the light of which he mechanically picked his steps; close to his heels, nina hurried through the darkness and puddles. on every side there was the rustling of pines, hundreds of them, their immense stems towering upwards into obscurity. although invisible, their presence could be felt. the place was wild and dreary, odours of earth, moss, and pine- sap mingled together in an overpowering perfume; it was the heart of a vast primeval forest. agrenev murmured as if to himself:

"no, nina, i do not love you. i want nothing from you…. anna … her father ordered her to marry me…. ancient blood…. anna told me she would never love…. asya is growing up under her influence…. i love my little daughter … yet she is strange too … she looks at me with vacant eyes … my daughter! i stole her mother out of a void! i go home and lie down alone … or i go to anna and she receives me with compressed lips. i do not want a daughter from you, nina … why should i? to-morrow will … be the same as yesterday."

by the door of his house in the engineer's quarters, he remembered

nina, and all at once became solicitous:

"you will catch cold, my dear. it will be terrible for you getting back …"

he stood before her a moment silently; then stretched out his hand:

"well, the best of luck, my dear!"

a band of youths strolled by. one of them flashed a lantern-light on the doorway.

"aha! sky-larking with the engineers! ha! ha! ha!"

they began chattering among themselves and sang in chorus a ribald doggerel:

"once upon a time a wench

appeared before a judge's bench.."