eyes shone strangely. Vassili was gloomy and preoccupied. Their feet

sank in the sand and they advanced slowly.

"Vassili!"

"What?"

He turned and looked at her.

"I made you quarrel with Iakov on purpose. You might both have lived here without quarrelling," she said in a calm tone.

There was not a shade of repentance in her words.

"Why did you do that?" asked Vassili, after a silence.

"I do not know—for nothing."

She shrugged her shoulders and smiled.

"What you have done was noble!" he said, with irritation.

She was silent.

"You will ruin my boy, ruin him entirely. You do not fear God, you