Besides: what, in this whole affair, has pained Martha most? Why, it is your leaving us. She is always sitting in your room; and she very often talks of you, and wonders why you don't come."
I had reached the conclusion that all Witold had said was but of a piece with the rest of Martha's behaviour, studiously correct in regard of him: but I have got a letter from her to-day.
"Come to me, Janka, come! Do not bear me more ill-will than I bear to you. Remember that everything in our relations is still just as it was before. The memories are too deep-rooted; I cannot—— Once I loved you even more than——
"I await you. M."
I shall go to her to-morrow.
She received me, clad in a black dressing-gown, with grey borders and a silver fringe. I found it hard to conceal the painful impression that I felt. We talked together in a friendly way for about an hour.
With some air of mystery, she explained to me the idea she had of fitting up a boudoir
