"How did you know?" asked Milenko.
"Because, when our grandmother died, her left eye remained open; and, although they tried to shut it, still, after a while, the lids parted again, and that, you well know, is a sure sign that someone of the house would follow her during the year."
The youth remained thoughtful for a little while, and then he added:
"I wonder how my poor mother is, now that she has lost both her sons."
"We shall soon have news from home, for, if the weather does not change, to-morrow we shall be in Trieste, where letters are surely awaiting us."
"Do you ever have voices whispering in your ears?" asked Peric.
"No, never; do you?"
"Very often, especially when I keep very still and try to think of nothing at all, just as if I were not my own self, but someone else."
"Try and see if you can hear a voice now."
The youth remained for some time perfectly still, looking as if he were going off into a trance; when he came to himself again: