generous, you would have borne the burden gladly, as a new sacrifice,
but I have no right to demand such a sacrifice of you--you have a higher
and better work before you. My children, let me unite you as it were
from the grave. You will live happily together. Mariana, I know you will
come to love Solomin--and he. .. he loved you from the moment he first
saw you at the Sipiagins. It was no secret to me, although we ran away
a few days later. Ah! that glorious morning! how exquisite and fresh and
young it was! It comes back to me now as a token, a symbol of your life
together--your life and his--and I by the merest chance happened to
be in his place. But enough! I don't want to complain, I only want
to justify myself. Some very sorrowful moments are in store for you
tomorrow. But what could I do? There was no other alternative. Goodbye,
Mariana, my dear good girl! Goodbye, Solomin! I leave her in your
charge. Be happy together; live for the sake of others. And you,
Mariana, think of me only when you are happy. Think of me as a man who
had also some good in him, but for whom it was better to die than to
live. Did I really love you? I don't know, dear friend. But I do know
that I never loved anyone more than you, and that it would have been
more terrible for me to die had I not that feeling for you to carry
away with me to the grave. Mariana, if you ever come across a Miss
Mashurina--Solomin knows her, and by the way, I think you've met her
too--tell her that I thought of her with gratitude just before the end.
She will understand. But I must tear myself away at last. I looked out
of the window just now and saw a lovely star amidst the swiftly moving
clouds. No matter how quickly they chased one another, they could not
hide it from view. That star reminded me of you, Mariana. At this moment
you are asleep in the next room, unsuspecting... I went to your door,
listened, and fancied I heard your pure, calm breathing.. . Goodbye!
goodbye! goodbye, my children, my friends!--Yours, A.

"Dear me! how is it that in my final letter I made no mention of our
great cause? I suppose lying is of no use when you're on the point of
death. Forgive this postscript, Mariana... The falsehood lies in me, not
in the thing in which you believe! One more word. You might have thought
perhaps, Mariana, that I put an end to myself merely because I was
afraid of going to prison, but believe me that is not true. There is
nothing terrible about going