would have come but that something prevented him. What prevented him from coming? What kept him away from me? That is the question. Who prevented him from coming? It would be great fun if the purse were to remain with me in spite of him. I have not used a bit of the money, except to buy leather, since the day the purse was taken from me at the fair. Fear prevented me from going beyond the word of the bargain. Perhaps there was no need for the fear. If he was so determined upon the bargain why did he not come when the thirteen years were up? If it is the case that he was not able to come and enforce his bargain when the time was up, there is every likelihood that he will not be able to touch me, no matter what use I make of the money. At all events it will not be long until I put the matter to the test, please God! . . . It is the greatest pity that I did not know he was not going to come! . . . It was a great kindness for her to come here every night! . . . But it is firmly fixed in her mind that I am bound, and that it is a bond that cannot be loosened. . . . It is a comical state of things for us!"
Mary and her father were the first two people that came to see him as soon as they heard that he had recovered consciousness and speech. Short Mary herself came often afterwards, and she told him exactly, from beginning to end, what sort of illness he had had, and what were the symptoms that accompanied it. It is not of the sickness nor of the symptoms Shiana used to be thinking as he listened to her, but of his own reflections. How should he tell her what sort of bond was on him not to marry? How would she receive the matter
