twenty years away from my life; I do not know whether to laugh or to
cry. But _courage_! we will put a good face on our little griefs. This
evening--this evening I will pretend to myself something--I am going to
live my old life over again--for an hour; I will blow a horn as soon as
I have crossed the Erlau, and they will hear it up at the big house
among the pines, where the lights are shining through the dark, and they
will send a servant down to open the gates; and you will appear at the
hall-door, and say, 'Signor Calabressa, why do you make such a noise to
awaken the dogs?' And I will say, 'Dear Miss Berezolyi, the pine-woods
are frightfully dark; may I not scare away the ghosts?"

"It was my mother who received you," the girl said, in a low voice.

"It was Natalie then; to-night it will be Natalushka."

He spoke lightly, so as not to make these reminiscences too serious. But
the conjunction of the two names seemed suddenly to startle the girl.
She stopped, and looked him in the face.

"It was you, then," she said, "who sent me the locket?"

"What locket?" he said, with surprise.

"The locket the lady dropped into my lap--'_From Natalie to
Natalushka_.'"

"I declare to you, little daughter, I never heard of it."

The girl looked bewildered.