eant over it, put down the candle and began looking for
something. Then she turned towards the garden, and crossed to the open
door; presently her light, slender, white-robed form stood still on
the threshold.

A kind of shiver ran over Lavretsky's limbs, and the word "Liza!"
escaped all but inaudibly from his lips.

She started, and then began to peer anxiously into the darkness.

"Liza!" said Lavretsky louder than before, and came out from the
shadow of the alley.

Liza was startled. For a moment she bent forward; then she shrank
back. She had recognized him. For the third time he called her, and
held out his hands towards her. She passed out from the doorway and
came into the garden.

"You!" she said. "You here!"

"I--I--Come and hear what I have to say," whispered Lavretsky; and
then, taking her hand, he led her to the bench.

She followed him without a word; but her pale face, her fixed look,
and all her movements, testified her unutterable astonishment.
Lavretsky made her sit down on the bench, and remained standing in
front of her.

"I did not think of coming here," he began. "I was led here--I--I--I
love you," he ended by saying, feeling very nervous in spite of
himself.

Liza slowly looked up at him. It seemed as if it had not been till
that moment that she understood where she was, and what was happening
to her. She would have risen, but she could not. Then she hid her face
in her hands.

"Liza!" exclaimed Lavretsky; "Liza!" he repeated, and knelt down at
her feet.

A slight shudder ran over her shoulders; she pressed the fingers of
her white hands closer to her face.

"What is it?" said Lavretsky. Then he heard a low sound of sobbing,
and his heart sank within him. He understood the meaning of those
tears.

"Can it be that you love me?" he whispered, with a caressing gesture
of the hand.

"Stand up, stand up, Fedor Ivanovich," she at last succeeded in
saying. "What are we doing?"

He rose from his knees, and sat down by her side on the bench. She was
no longer crying, but her eyes, as she looked at him earnestly, were
wet with tears.

"I am frightened! What are we doing?" she said again.

"I love you," he repeated. "I am ready to give my whole life for you."

She shuddered again, just as if something had stung her, then she
raised her eyes to heaven.

"That is entirely in the hands of God," she replied.

"But you love me, Liza? We are going to be happy?"

She let fall her eyes.