‘ “You have been complaining of me to the Czar,” said my father.
‘ “Yes,” I replied.
‘ “You wanted to have your own father punished as a criminal.”
‘ “Yes; because you would not tell me the truth.”
‘ “Well, then, I have now just one word to say to you, and that will be the last word spoken between us.”
‘ “Say it, then.”
‘ “If you don’t marry Theodora, I shall order my servants to remove you by force from the house, and then I disinherit you.”
‘ “I will not marry Theodora.”
‘ “Very well, then, you are no longer my son.”
‘ “Be it so,” I said. “Nothing more can wound or grieve me. I am deaf and dead to all the feelings of a son towards his father, and to all his father’s threats. I, too, have made my decision.”