'But what, if it is a punishment,' she thought again; 'what, if we
must now pay the penalty of our guilt in full? My conscience was
silent, it is silent now, but is that a proof of innocence? O God, can
we be so guilty! Canst Thou who hast created this night, this sky,
wish to punish us for having loved each other? If it be so, if he has
sinned, if I have sinned,' she added with involuntary force, 'grant
that he, O God, grant that we both, may die at least a noble, glorious
death--there, on the plains of his country, not here in this dark
room.

'And the grief of my poor, lonely mother?' she asked herself, and was
bewildered, and could find no answer to her question. Elena did not
know that every man's happiness is built on the unhappiness of
another, that even his advantage, his comfort, like a statue needs a
pedestal, the disadvantage, the discomfort of others.

'Renditch!' muttered Insarov in his sleep.

Elena went up to him on tiptoe, bent over him, and wiped the
perspiration from his face. He tossed a little on his pillow, and was
still again.

She went back again to the window, and again her thoughts took
possession of her. She began to argue with herself, to assure herself
that there was no reason to be afraid. She even began to feel ashamed
of her weakness. 'Is there any danger? isn't he better?' she
murmured. 'Why, if we had not been at the theatre to-day, all this
would never have entered my head.'

At that instant she saw high above the water a white sea-gull; some