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 at the same time irritating and alluring. With the deepest tenderness and cautious prudence Niemoviecki endeavoured to put in order the torn pieces of her dress, and the conflicting impression, produced first by the cloth of her dress and then that excited by the exposure of her uncovered body, was for his mind sharp like a knife, incomprehensible as frenzy. Could he be both defender and assailant at the same time? He looked for help from the surrounding forest, but all was darkness. Neither forest nor atmosphere could offer him any help.

Not long since had been held on this spot the orgie of beasts! and he now being thus unexpectedly admitted into the innermost secrets of human life, there appeared to generate within him a contagious lewdness which reacted on the sensual part of his nature.

“Oh, that I should be here! that I