I turned round quickly.
‘Nothing. Why, do you see something?’
‘Not now, but I did.’
She drew deep, gasping breaths.
‘Whom? what?’
‘My mother,’ she said slowly, and she began trembling all over. I shivered too, as though with cold. I suddenly felt ashamed, as though I were guilty. And indeed, wasn’t I guilty at that instant?
‘Nonsense!’ I began; ‘what do you mean? Tell me rather——’
‘No, for God’s sake, no!’ she interposed, clutching her head. ‘This is madness—I’m going out of my mind.… One can’t play with this—it’s death.… Good-bye.…’
I held out my hands to her.