‘ “I can’t tell you more than I know.”
‘ “You are lying, father!” I exclaimed in anger; “but it is all the same; I will find her, or get to know about her. I will not rest, either day or night, till I find her, living or dead. But may God punish you with everlasting remorse if I find that you have driven her with blows to the altar to marry Anthony.”
‘ “Unnatural son! go and ask the priest.”
‘I went to the pope in the village. Like one demented, I rushed into his room and asked:
‘ “Have you married Annita and Anthony?” As he hesitated with his answer I caught him by the throat, threw him on the ground and knelt on his chest.
‘ “Out with the truth, you wretch!” I cried; “have you married Annita and Anthony?”
‘He assured me, by all that was holy, that he had not married them, and that he knew nothing about it. I could not but believe him. If I had felt any doubt as to the truth of his word I believe that, in the desperate and frenzied state in which I was, I should have held my hand so long on his throat that I should have choked him.
‘The next day I also disappeared and was away for a whole year. I wandered about from house to house, village to village, and inquired of everybody, and promised rewards if anyone would procure me tidings of Annita. But all in vain. I could find no trace of her. I went to Finland, to Annita’s homestead, and through Kuolaniemi, where I had rescued her. The farm-house had been rebuilt, and had a new proprietor, but nobody had heard anything of Annita.
‘I returned home as ragged as a beggar, sick, haggard, hollow-eyed, and in despair. I was no longer as angry as [[68]]before, but dreadfully out of spirits and broken-hearted. I again begged my father to tell me the truth, or let me know for certain whether Annita was alive.
‘ “I don’t know,” he replied as before. I went off again without even saying good-bye to my parents. I visited all the convents, but no nun bore her name, and no one had heard anything of her. I went to Moscow, to the Czar, to the pious Theodore, in whose service I had been, and I laid a charge against my father by telling him what I have now told you. He sent a judge to Olonets and had my father examined, but he denied, as before, that he knew anything about Annita; perhaps bribed the judge as well—he was rich enough to do it. After an absence of two years I returned to my saddened home.