they seemed to sear his heart. He rose and ran to meet her.
"Olga, Olga!" were his first tender words.
She started, looked at him with an air of astonishment, and turned away. He followed her.
"You are weeping?" he said.
"Yes, and 'tis you have made me do so," she replied, while her form shook with sobs.
"But it is beyond your power to comfort me."
"That miserable letter ! " he ejaculated, suddenly becoming full of remorse.
For answer she opened a basket which she was carrying, took from it the letter, and handed it to him.
"Take it away," she said. " The sight of it will only make me weep more bitterly."
He stuffed it silently into his pocket, and, with head bent, seated himself beside her.
"Give me credit for good intentions," he urged. " In any case the letter was evidence only of my care for your happiness—of the fact that I was thinking of it in advance, and was ready to sacrifice myself on its account. Do you think that I wrote the message callously—that inwardly I was not
