you! What is the matter with you? Why such despair? You will see, every
thing will be cleared up, some misunderstanding... some unlooked-for
chance.... You will see, he will soon be back. I will let him know.... I
will write to him to-day.... But I will not repeat your words.... Is it
possible!'

'He will not find me,' Susanna murmured, still in the same subdued
voice. 'Do you suppose I would have come here, to you, to a stranger, if
I had not known I should not long be living? Ah, all my past has been
swept away beyond return! You see, I could not bear to die so, in
solitude, in silence, without saying to some one, "I've lost every
thing... and I'm dying.... Look!"'

She drew back into her cold little corner.... Never shall I forget that
head, those fixed eyes with their deep, burnt-out look, those dark,
disordered tresses against the pale window-pane, even the grey, narrow
gown, under every fold of which throbbed such young, passionate life!

Unconsciously I flung up my hands.

'You... you die, Susanna Ivanovna! You have only to live.... You must
live!'

She looked at me.... My words seemed to surprise her.

'Ah, you don't know,' she began, and she softly dropped both her hands.
'I cannot live, Too much, too much I have had to suffer, too much! I
lived through it.... I hoped... but now... when even this is
shattered... when...'