thoughts at length took me back to that far-off dead past, when the
passion of love was so much in man's life. It was much; but in that
over-populated world it divided the empire of his soul with a great,
ever-growing misery--the misery of the hungry ones whose minds were
darkened, through long years of decadence, with a sullen rage against
God and man; and the misery of those who, wanting nothing, yet feared
that the end of all things was coming to them.

For the space of half an hour I pondered on these things, then said: "If
I were to tell a hundredth part of this black retrospect to Yoletta,
would not she bid me drink and forget, and herself pour out the divine
liquor, and press it to my lips?"

Again I took the bottle with trembling hand, and filled the same small
cup to the brim, saying: "For your sake then, Yoletta, let me drink, and
be cured; for this is what you desire, and you are more to me than life
or passion or happiness. But when this consuming fire has left me--this
feeling which until now burns and palpitates in every drop of my blood,
every fiber of my being--I know that you shall still be to me a sweet,
sacred sister and immaculate bride, worshipped more of my soul than any
mother in the house; that loving and being loved by you shall be my one
great joy all my life long."

I drained the cup deliberately, then stopped the bottle and put it back
in its place. The liquor was tasteless, but colder than ice, and made me
shiver when I swallowed it. I began to wonder whether I would be
conscious of the change it was destined to work in me or not; and then,
half regretting what I had done, I wished that Yoletta would come to me,
so that I might clasp her in my arms with all the old fervor once more,
before that icy-cold liquor had done its work. Finally, I carefully