es' bells--some one was coming; he stopped, came
up-stairs, and she saw an officer walk into the room; a real live
officer--at least so he seemed--who sat down opposite to her where the
second cover was laid."

"Oh! how horrible!" exclaimed Natacha, wide-eyed. "And he spoke to
her--really spoke?"

"Yes, just as if he had really been a man. He begged and prayed her to
listen to him, and all she had to do was to refuse him and hold out till
the cock crowed; but she was too much frightened. She covered her face
with her hands, and he clasped her in his arms; luckily some girls who
were on the watch rushed in when she screamed."

"Why do you terrify them with such nonsense?" said Pelagueia Danilovna.

"But, mamma, you know you wanted to try your fortune too."

"And if you try your fortune in a barn, what do you do?" asked Sonia.

"That is quite simple. You must go to the barn--now, for instance--and
listen. If you hear thrashing, it is for ill-luck; if you hear grain
dropping, that is good."

"Tell us, mother, what happened to you in the barn."

"It is so long ago," said the mother, with a smile, "that I have quite
forgotten; besides, not one of you is brave enough to try it."

"Yes, I will go," said Sonia. "Let me go."

"Go by all means if you are not afraid."

"May I, Madame Schoss?" said Sonia to the governess.

Now, whether playing games or sitting quietly and chatting, Nicolas had
not left Sonia's side the whole evening; he felt as if he had seen her
for the first time, and only just now appreciated all her merits.
Bright, bewitchingly pretty in her quaint costume, and excited as she
very rarely was, she had completely fascinated him.

"What a simpleton I must have been!" thought he, responding in thought
to those sparkling eyes and that triumphant smile which had revealed to
him a little dimple at the tip of her mustache that he had never
observed before.

"I am afraid of nothing," she declared. She rose, asked her way,
precisely, to the barn, and every detail as to what she was to expect,
waiting there in total silence; then she threw a fur cloak over her
shoulders, glanced at Nicolas, and went on.

She went along the corridor and down the back-stairs; while Nicolas,
saying that the heat of the room was too much for him, slipped out by
the front entrance. It was as cold as ever, and the moon seemed to be
shining even more brightly than before. The snow at her feet was strewn
with stars, while their