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 novel couldn't stand for it unless I set the whole story back a few hundred years."

"But," objected Sonia, "from our Russian standpoint there's nothing so remarkable in that. It was a well-executed vengeance. The lady goes to the prison to identify the former maid—which she does, and promptly shoots the woman. Then foolish doctors declare the lady insane, and lock her up. I think she showed determination and good sense. She knew that the court, at best, would only condemn the creature as an accessory. The countess wanted blood for blood, and, besides, she believed she was fulfilling a Christian obligation—which she probably was. That whole episode appears to me far more plausible than the usual run of facts."

"It's picturesque enough, of course," said Victoria, "but you know it's melodrama, pure and simple, and the Muse doesn't want to be classed by the unthinking as rantish. What would Madame Despard's souls say to such goriness and undue display of the untender passion?"

"How do you end it, then?" asked Sonia.

"If you will light a lamp, or turn on a light, 311