“A few minutes ago your mind was made up, Vera!”
Raisky’s face was pale, and his agitation nearly as great as hers. She did not hear his words, and she looked at him without seeing him. Then she took a few steps in the direction of the precipice, but suddenly turned to go slowly towards the chapel.
“I am not going,” she whispered. “Why does he call me? It cannot be that he has changed his attitude in the last few days.”
She sank down on her knees before the sacred picture, and covered her face with her hands. Raisky came up to her, and implored her not to go. She herself gazed at the picture with expressionless, hopeless eyes. When she rose she shuddered, and seemed unaware of Raisky’s presence.
A shot sounded once more. With a cry Vera ran over the meadow towards the cliff. Perhaps my conviction has conquered, she thought. Why else should he call her? Her feet hardly seemed to touch the grass as she ran into the avenue that led to the precipice.
CHAPTER XX
Vera came that night to supper with a gloomy face. She eagerly drank a glass of milk, but offered no remark to anyone.
“Why are you so unhappy, Veroshka?” asked her aunt. “Don’t you feel well.”