“It’s a wonderful face,” said the prince, “and I feel sure that her destiny is not by any means an ordinary, uneventful one. Her face is smiling enough, but she must have suffered terribly⁠—hasn’t she? Her eyes show it⁠—those two bones there, the little points under her eyes, just where the cheek begins. It’s a proud face too, terribly proud! And I⁠—I can’t say whether she is good and kind, or not. Oh, if she be but good! That would make all well!”

“And would you marry a woman like that, now?” continued Gania, never taking his excited eyes off the prince’s face.

“I cannot marry at all,” said the latter. “I am an invalid.”

“Would Rogojin marry her, do you think?”

“Why not? Certainly he would, I should think. He would marry her tomorrow!⁠—marry her tomorrow and murder her in a week!”