On the Bright Shore
"How am I to know?" answered she, impatiently.
"So far as I have heard he was not given to play."
"No. They found money on his person."
"You relieved him of his duties yesterday?"
"Yes; but at his own request."
"Did he take the dismissal to heart?"
"I cannot tell," answered she, feverishly. "If he had wished, he might have gone sooner. But he was a madman, and this explains everything. Why did he not go sooner?"
Svirski looked at her very attentively.
"Calm yourself," said he.
But she, mistaken as to the meaning of his words, answered,—
"There is so much that for me is disagreeable in this, and there may be so much trouble. Who knows but I shall have to give some explanation, some evidence—can I tell what?. Oh, a fatal history!—besides there will be people's gossip. First,
121
