Picture Dictionary & Books : Free for English Learner!

I had already fixed on the spot from which to keep watch.

At the end of the garden, at the point where the fence, separating our domain from the Zasyekins', joined the common wall, grew a pine-tree, standing alone.

Standing under its low thick branches, I could see well, as far as the darkness of the night permitted, what took place around.

Close by, ran a winding path which had always seemed mysterious to me; it coiled like a snake under the fence, which at that point bore traces of having been climbed over, and led to a round arbour formed of thick acacias.

I made my way to the pine-tree, leaned my back against its trunk, and began my watch.

The night was as still as the night before, but there were fewer clouds in the sky, and the outlines of bushes, even of tall flowers, could be more distinctly seen.

The first moments of expectation were oppressive, almost terrible.

I had made up my mind to everything.

I only debated how to act; whether to thunder, 'Where goest thou? Stand! show thyself – or death!' or simply to strike...

Every sound, every whisper and rustle, seemed to me portentous and extraordinary...

I prepared myself...

I bent forward...

But half-an-hour passed, an hour passed; my blood had grown quieter, colder; the consciousness that I was doing all this for nothing, that I was even a little absurd, that Malevsky had been making fun of me, began to steal over me.

I left my ambush, and walked all about the garden.

As if to taunt me, there was not the smallest sound to be heard anywhere; everything was at rest.

Even our dog was asleep, curled up into a ball at the gate.

I climbed up into the ruins of the greenhouse, saw the open country far away before me, recalled my meeting with Zinaida, and fell to dreaming...

I started...

I fancied I heard the creak of a door opening, then the faint crack of a broken twig.

In two bounds I got down from the ruin, and stood still, all aghast.

Rapid, light, but cautious footsteps sounded distinctly in the garden.

They were approaching me.

'Here he is ... here he is, at last!' flashed through my heart.

With spasmodic haste, I pulled the knife out of my pocket; with spasmodic haste, I opened it.

Flashes of red were whirling before my eyes; my hair stood up on my head in my fear and fury...

Table of Contents