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103
SÖNYA KOVALÉVSKY
young and old, repeat the sacred prayer after him.
There is not one among them who is not penetrated
with pity for the unhappy Edith; who would not
willingly give her own life to save the soul of Harold.
Edith lies prone upon the floor. Her body is
already quivering with the throes of death, and all her
life, which is on the point of extinction, is
concentrated in her eyes, which are riveted on the crucifix.
Still the candle does not light.
The priest has recited the prayer. "Amen," he
says, in a sad voice.
The miracle has not taken place; Harold is not
forgiven.
A curse bursts from the mouth of the pious Edith,
and her eyes die out forever.
This romance brought about a complete change in
my sister’s inner life. For the first time in her life
the questions presented themselves clearly to her
imagination: "Is there another life? Does all end
with death t Do two loving hearts meet and
recognize each other in the world beyond f"
With that unrestrained vigor which she put into
everything she did, my sister saturated herself with
these questions as if she were the first person who
had ever encountered them, and she began to think,
in the utmost seriousness, that she could not live if
she did not find answers to them.
As I now recall the facts, it was a splendid summer
evening; the sun was already setting, the heat had
decreased, and everything in the atmosphere was
wonderfully calm and pleasant. The perfume of
roses and new-mown hay was wafted in through the
open windows. From the farm came the lowing of
the cows, the bleating of the sheep, the voice of the
laborers — all the varied sounds of a summer evening
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