..he loved you from the moment he first saw you at the Sipiagins.It was no secret to me, although we ran away a few days later.Ah! that glorious morning! how exquisite and fresh and young it was! It comes back to me now as a token, a symbol of your life together--your life and his--and I by the merest chance happened to be in his place.But enough! I don't want to complain, I only want to justify myself.Some very sorrowful moments are in store for you tomorrow.But what could I do? There was no other alternative.Goodbye, Mariana, my dear good girl!
Goodbye, Solomin! I leave her in your charge.Be happy together;live for the sake of others.And you, Mariana, think of me only when you are happy.Think of me as a man who had also some good in him, but for whom it was better to die than to live.Did Ireally love you? I don't know, dear friend.But I do know that Inever loved anyone more than you, and that it would have been more terrible for me to die had I not that feeling for you to carry away with me to the grave.Mariana, if you ever come across a Miss Mashurina-- Solomin knows her, and by the way, I think you've met her too-- tell her that I thought of her with gratitude just before the end.She will understand.But I must tear myself away at last.I looked out of the window just now and saw a lovely star amidst the swiftly moving clouds.No matter how quickly they chased one another, they could not hide it from view.That star reminded me of you, Mariana.At this moment you are asleep in the next room, unsuspecting...I went to your door, listened, and fancied I heard your pure, calm breathing..
.Goodbye! goodbye! goodbye, my children, my friends!--Yours, A.
"Dear me! how is it that in my final letter I made no mention of our great cause? I suppose lying is of no use when you're on the point of death.Forgive this postscript, Mariana...The falsehood lies in me, not in the thing in which you believe! One more word.You might have thought perhaps, Mariana, that I put an end to myself merely because I was afraid of going to prison, but believe me that is not true.There is nothing terrible about going to prison in itself, but being shut up there for a cause in which you have no faith is unthinkable.It was not fear of prison that drove me to this, Mariana.Goodbye! goodbye! my dear, pure girl."Mariana and Solomin each read the letter in turn.She then put her own portrait and the two letters into her pocket and remained standing motionless.
"Let us go, Mariana; everything is ready.We must fulfil his wish," Solomin said to her.
Mariana drew near to Nejdanov and pressed her lips against his forehead which was already turning cold.
"Come," she said, turning to Solomin.They went out, hand in hand.
When the police arrived at the factory a few hours later, they found Nejdanov's corpse.Tatiana had laid out the body, put a white pillow under his head, crossed his arms, and even placed a bunch of flowers on a little table beside him.Pavel, who had been given all the needful instructions, received the police officers with the greatest respect and as great a contempt, so that those worthies were not quite sure whether to thank or arrest him.He gave them all the details of the suicide, regaled them with Swiss cheese and Madeira, but as for the whereabouts of Vassily Fedotitch and the young lady, he knew nothing of that.He was most effusive in his assurances that Vassily Fedotitch was never away for long at a time on account of his work, that he was sure to be back either today or tomorrow, and that he would let them know as soon as he arrived.They might depend on him!
So the officers went away no wiser than they had come, leaving a guard in charge of the body and promising to send a coroner.
