band on it, wearing mourning for some lady, suddenly seize him by
both hands, and they fell headlong into a very deep, dark pit.

Then everything was blurred and vanished.


AN ANONYMOUS STORY

I

THROUGH causes which it is not the time to go into in detail, I had
to enter the service of a Petersburg official called Orlov, in the
capacity of a footman. He was about five and thirty, and was called
Georgy* Ivanitch.

*Both _g's_ hard, as in "Gorgon"; _e_ like _ai_ in _rain_.

I entered this Orlov's service on account of his father, a prominent
political man, whom I looked upon as a serious enemy of my cause.
I reckoned that, living with the son, I should--from the conversations
I should hear, and from the letters and papers I should find on the
table--learn every detail of the father's plans and intentions.

As a rule at eleven o'clock in the morning the electric bell rang
in my footman's quarters to let me know that my master was awake.
When I went into the bedroom with his polished shoes and brushed
clothes, Georgy Ivanitch would be sitting in his bed with a face
that looked, not drowsy, but rather exhausted by sleep, and he would
gaze off in one direction without any sign of satisfaction at having
waked. I helped him to dress, and he let me do it with an air of