Page:Garshin - A Red Flower (1911).djvu/37

Rh him the knot which drew together the two long sleeves, unbound the straight-jacket, and for a long time he listened to the snoring of the watchman. But the old man slept soundly. The madman removed the straight-jacket and rose from the bed. He was free. He tried the door; it was locked from the inside; the key was probably in the watchman's pocket. In fear of awaking him, he did not dare to look through the pockets, and he resolved to make his exit through the window.

It was a calm, warm and dark night; the sky was resplendent with stars. He looked up at them, discerning a familiar constellation and feeling happy at the thought that they, as it seemed to him, understood him and sympathized with him. Blinking, he saw endless rays which they sent him, and his mad desire increased. It was necessary to straighten the thick bar of the iron grating, to squeeze himself through the narrow opening facing the corner overgrown with bushes, and to climb over the high stone wall. There the final struggle would take place, and then—even death.

He attempted to straighten the bar with his bare hands, but the iron would not give