to him--Venus-like arms, which had cast about his neck a bond
of pity and sweet tenderness. And he, in exchange for such supreme
happiness, what had he given?

Accusingly an implacable voice began to cry out in the student's
conscience. Alicia, he pondered, was accustomed to the ways of the
world; she was a woman of exacting and refined tastes, who adored luxury
and understood Beethoven. Many men of the aristocracy worshiped her,
making a fashionable cult of her beauty; and more than one famous tenor
had sung for her, alone in the intimacy of her bedroom, his favorite
_racconto_. The inexorable voice continued:

"And what have you done, Darles the Obscure, to be worthy of this
treasure? What merits have you had? Women of such complete beauty as
hers seek that which excels--they love strength, which is the supreme
beauty of man; strength, which is glory in the artist, money in the
millionaire, elegance and breeding in the man of the world, despair in
the suicide, courage and outlawry in the thief who boldly dares defy the
law. But you, you who are nothing, what do you aspire to? Of what can
you complain?"

The student heaved a sigh, and his eyes filled with tears. He was a
fool, a shrinking coward, a poltroon. A man who has ruined himself for a
woman, or who, to keep her as his own, has committed murder and been
sent to prison, may justly complain of her. But _he_, quite on the
contrary----

Suddenly Darles shuddered so violently that the electric shock of his
nerves made him utter a cry. Deathly pale, he sat up in bed. Since he
could not give Alicia either a fortune or the glory of a great artist,
he must drink a toast to her with his whole honor--he must steal. This
came to him as a terrible revelation, resonant of Hell. And all at once
he understood the enigmatic expression which had shone in the eyes of
the girl and had sounded from her lips the last time they had talked
together. He had asked her: "When am I going to see you again?" And she
had answered: "Never--until you bring me the necklace I have asked you
for!"

Now these mystic words clearly reechoed in his mind; now he fully
understood them. Alicia was in love with a priceless jewel; and often,
thinking about it, she grew very sad. Her sadness was real; he himself
had seen it. Perhaps the girl, when she had dismissed him, reminding him
of that necklace, had spoken in jest; perhaps it had been in earnest.
Who could tell? At all events, when she had decl