"

"Probably."

"But you haven't told her?"

"What is there to tell her? When the time comes I'll tell her. Now,
that's enough." David rose and left the room.

When I was alone I thought it over, and, at last came to the
conclusion that David was acting like a wise and practical man, and I
felt a glow of pride at being the friend of such a practical man.
And Raissa in her eternal black woolen dress suddenly seemed to me
charming and deserving of the most devoted affection.

XV.

But still David's father neither came nor wrote. The year advanced; we
were well into the summer; it was near the end of June. We grew tired
of waiting. Meanwhile, rumors grew thick that Latkin was growing
worse, and that his family, as might have been expected, were
starving, and that their hovel might at anytime fall to pieces and
bury them all in its ruins. David's expression altered, and grew so
fierce and gloomy that every one kept away from him. He also began to
go out more frequently. I no longer met Raissa. At times I saw her in
the distance, hastily walking in the street with light, graceful step,
straight as an arrow, her hands folded, with a sad, thoughtful look in
her eyes, and an expression on her pale face--that was all. My aunt,
with Trankwillitatin for an ally, still kept tormenting me, and
perpetually whispered tauntingly in my ear, "Thief! thief!" But I paid
no attention to her, and my father was very busy and kept traveling in
every direction, without knowing what was going on at home.

Once, as I was going by the well-known apple tree, and more from habit
than intentionally happened to glance at the familiar spot, it seemed
to me suddenly as if the surface of the earth above our treasure
looked different from usual I--as if there were a mound where there
had been a hollow, and as if the place had been disturbed. "What's
the meaning of this?" thought I to myself. "Has any one discovered our
secret and taken the watch?"

I wanted to make sure with my own eyes. I did not care for the watch,
which was rusting in the damp earth, but I didn't want any one else to
have it. So the next day I got up early, went into the garden equipped
with a knife, found the place beneath the apple tree, and began to
dig. I dug a hole almost a yard deep, when I was convinced that the
watch was gone--that some one had found it, taken it, stolen it.

But who could have taken it except David? Who else knew where it was?

I put back