he whispered at last, drawing his breath with
an effort.

"So be it, then. Gavrila Ardalionovitch," she spoke solemnly and
forcibly, "you hear the prince's decision? Take it as my decision; and
let that be the end of the matter for good and all."

"Nastasia Philipovna!" cried Totski, in a quaking voice.

"Nastasia Philipovna!" said the general, in persuasive but agitated
tones.

Everyone in the room fidgeted in their places, and waited to see what
was coming next.

"Well, gentlemen!" she continued, gazing around in apparent
astonishment; "what do you all look so alarmed about? Why are you so
upset?"

"But--recollect, Nastasia Philipovna." stammered Totski, "you gave a
promise, quite a free one, and--and you might have spared us this. I am
confused and bewildered, I know; but, in a word, at such a moment, and
before company, and all so-so-irregular, finishing off a game with a
serious matter like this, a matter of honour, and of heart, and--"

"I don't follow you, Afanasy Ivanovitch; you are losing your head. In
the first place, what do you mean by 'before company'? Isn't the company
good enough for you? And what's all that about 'a game'? I wished to
tell my little story, and I told it! Don't you like it? You heard what
I said to the prince? 'As you decide, so it shall be!' If he had said
'yes,' I should have given my consent! But he said 'no,' so I refused.
Here was my whole life hanging on his one word! Surely I was serious
enough?"

"The prince! What on earth has the prince got to do with it? Who the
deuce is the prince?" cried the general, who could conceal his wrath no
longer.

"The prince has this to do with it--that I see in him for the first
time in all my life, a man endowed with real truthfulness of spirit, and
I trust him. He trusted me at first sight, and I trust him!"

"It only remains for me, then, to thank Nastasia Philipovna for the
great delicacy with which she has treated me," said Gania, as pale as
death, and with quivering lips. "That is my plain duty, of course; but
the prince--what has he to do in the matter?"

"I see what you are driving at," said Nastasia Philipovna. "You imply
that the prince is after the seventy-five thousand roubles--I quite
understand you. Mr. Totski, I forgot to say, 'Take your seventy-five
thousand roubles'--I don't want them. I let you go free for nothing take
your freedom! You must need it. Nine years and three months' captivity
is enough for anybody. Tomor