vy drains upon my purse, I felt that I ought not to
let these chances slip through my fingers. It was our first separation,
and I found it hard enough to bear. But, as I had to work hard and also
to fill a mother's place toward the child, the first two weeks passed
pretty quickly.

"But after that the little one began to give me a great deal of
anxiety. Teething set in, there were bad days and worse nights, and the
letters I received from my wife--in which she said she was doing
admirably and had grown quite young again--did not tend to raise my
spirits especially, for it appeared as if nothing were wanting to her
happiness, not even her husband and child.

"Heretofore I had had neither disposition nor occasion for jealousy.
Suddenly I was to learn what an abyss can be uncovered in a man's soul,
into which everything sinks that he has before believed firm and true.

"I had been sitting up late; the child was very feverish, and toward
midnight we had been obliged to call in the doctor. For the first time
I thought with bitterness about my wife, who could stay at such a
distance and nurse her own health while the little life, that should
have been dearer to her than her own, was trembling in the balance.
When the child had been quieted a little, so that I could think of
taking some rest, it was a long time before I could close my eyes,
though as a general thing I could reckon on my peasant's sleep under
all circumstances. At last it came, but with it came dreams--dreams
such as I would not have wished to the damned in hell. Always about
_her_, in ever-new costumes, playing the old play of pledged and broken
faith. Out of the last scene, where, in the very presence of her lover
and with the quietest mien in the world, she sought to demonstrate to
me her right to transfer her love from one man to another, until I
sprang forward with a cry of fury to seize her by the hair--out of this
wretched vision of hell I was awakened by the crying of my child; so
that I did not take time to wipe the cold sweat from my forehead, but
ran into the nursery quite prepared to find Death standing at the head
of the little bed. But once again it passed, and in the morning we were
both able to get a couple of hours of quiet sleep. Then, at last, I sat
down and wrote to my wife just how things stood.

"For some days before, I had not sent her any very encouraging reports.
Any other woman would have returned at once, and not have tried to
exc