and eagerness... I came to find great pleasure in sitting with him, answering his questions, and hearing his biting, comical remarks. Nothing spoiled those short delightful minutes for me save the glances my mother cast at me covertly, especially if a merry laugh escaped me, or I ran on at length in some piece of talk... And chance would not leave me to enjoy those brief innocent interludes, in which I forgot the constant anxiety and hidden agitation that robbed me of sleep... for my mother was struck by an indisposition that confined her to bed... and but for that, I would never have thought of going to the doctor by myself...

I do not know how I dared one day to ask my mother to allow me to bring the doctor to her, that he

might ease her ailment... nor do I quite know what drove me to do what I did — was it truly my wish to ease my mother's pain, or was it my longing for those quiet sittings I so yearned for, which were an outlet for my distress and an escape from my monotonous, dull, quiet life...

The doctor was examining a patient when I knocked at the inner door of his clinic, and I sensed his face brighten at the sight of me. He quickly showed me in, asking about my long absence, then about my mother; and when I told him she was ill, he showed alarm, but I reassured him that what ailed her posed no grave danger. Hardly had he finished with his patient when he seated me facing him and began gazing into my face, saying:

— Your health, praise God, has much improved. — And I agreed with a nod of my head...

He went on, drawing a little nearer to me:

— Has no one told you that you have become more beautiful now than before...

A wave of crimson swept over my face... but he went on, as though unaware of my confusion — "In any case, you are always beauti-ful..." And before I knew it, his arms were around me. Suddenly — I know not how — my mother rose before me, her face darkened and her features clouded, crying: That other sex... wicked wolves... Tomorrow, when you grow up, you will understand what I mean...

I slipped from his arms, terrified and trembling, and