Rogojin listened to the prince’s excited words with a bitter smile. His conviction was, apparently, unalterable.

“How dreadfully you look at me, Parfen!” said the prince, with a feeling of dread.

“Water or the knife?” said the latter, at last. “Ha, ha⁠—that’s exactly why she is going to marry me, because she knows for certain that the knife awaits her. Prince, can it be that you don’t even yet see what’s at the root of it all?”

“I don’t understand you.”

“Perhaps he really doesn’t understand me! They do say that you are a⁠—you know what! She loves another⁠—there, you can understand that much! Just as I love her, exactly so she loves another man. And that other man is⁠—do you know who? It’s you . There⁠—you didn’t know that, eh?”

“I?”