stood before him--and Hermann thought he recognized the Countess.

"I have come to you against my wish," she said in a firm voice,
"but I have been ordered to grant your request. Three, seven, ace,
will win for you if played in succession, but only on these
conditions: that you do not play more than one card in twenty-four-
hours, and that you never play again during the rest of your life.
I forgive you my death, on condition that you marry my companion,
Lizaveta Ivanovna."

With these words she turned round very quietly, walked with a
shuffling gait towards the door, and disappeared. Hermann heard
the street door open and shut, and again he saw someone look in at
him through the window.

For a long time Hermann could not recover himself. He then rose up
and entered the next room. His orderly was lying asleep upon the
floor, and he had much difficulty in waking him. The orderly was
drunk as usual, and no information could be obtained from him. The
street door was locked. Hermann returned to his room, lit his
candle, and wrote down all the details of his vision.


VI


Two fixed ideas can no more exist together in the moral world than
two bodies can occupy one and the same physical world. "Three,
seven, ace" soon drove out of Hermann's mind the thought of the
dead Countess. "Three, seven, ace" were perpetually running