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 got the idea that it was full of spiders, and one day I was suddenly seized by some sort of courage or desperation, shut my eyes, cried out and sprang in. Don’t ask me how proud I was afterwards; it was as if I had passed an examination, as if I knew everything, as if I had changed into another person. As if I had grown up at last”

That evening she came into the laboratory, uneasy and worried. When he took her into his arms she said agitatedly: “He’s opened his eye, he’s opened his eye, oh!” She was thinking of the old Hagen; in the afternoon she had had a long conversation with Uncle Rohn but would not speak about it. It seemed that she was striving to get away from something; she threw herself into Prokop’s arms so passionately and devotedly that he had the impression that she wanted to blot everything out at all costs. Finally she lay still, her eyes closed, completely limp. He thought that she had fallen asleep but then she began to whisper: “Darling, I shall do something terrible, but you mustn’t leave me. Swear to me, swear to me,” she insisted wildly and sprang to her feet, immediately, however, getting control of herself again. “Ah! no. What could you swear to do? I’ve read in the cards that you will go away. If you want to, do it now before it’s too late.”

Prokop naturally jumped up, saying that she wanted to get rid of him, that her Tartar pride had rushed to her head, and similar things. She became very excited and charged him with being base and harsh, saying that he would answer for it, that