you think of the future? Will your fate be like Kata’’s? Or, perhaps, otherwise? I would rather see you in the coffin!”
When that man for the first time crossed her thoughts (it was that Saturday evening, when she had unbraided her blonde hair), it occurred to her that he was not good-looking, but nothing else. Then he came again with that speech. And the words sounded in her soul like the buzzing of a bee in flight, as she wantonly laughed in the circle of her teasing companions. She was angry with herself, and wanted to laugh louder, but the voice whispered sternly to her: “You are wretched! You are judged!”—The laughter was choked in her throat. . . . The evening came. She awaited him with secret fear. He came. He again looked at her with pity. And he again spoke sternly. “You are wretched!”
Strange man! How many others had come before with such reproachful words!
