“Then—then—you won’t come, will you?” said Pavel once more, timidly and despairingly, and clasping his hands in entreaty. “No—I won’t—I swear!—run away—you’ll be late!” He put out his hand mechanically, then recollected himself, and shuddered. Pavel did not take the proffered hand, he withdrew his own. The third bell rang. An instantaneous but total change seemed to have come over both. Something snapped within Velchaninoff’s heart—so it seemed to him, and he who had been roaring with laughter a moment before, seized Pavel Pavlovitch angrily by the shoulder. “If I—_I_ offer you my hand, sir” (he showed the scar on the palm of his left hand)—“if _I_ can offer you my hand, sir, I should think _you_ might accept it!” he hissed with white and trembling lips. Pavel Pavlovitch grew deadly white also, his lips quivered and a convulsion seemed to run through his features: “And—Liza?” he whispered quickly. Suddenly his whole face worked, and tears started to his eyes. Velchaninoff stood like a log before him. “Pavel Pavlovitch! Pavel Pavlovitch!” shrieked the voice from the carriage, in despairing accents, as though some one were being murdered. Pavel roused himself and started to run. At that moment the engine whistled, and the train moved off. Pavel Pavlovitch just managed to cling on, and so climb into his carriage, as it moved out of the station. Velchaninoff waited for another train, and then continued his journey to Odessa. THE END. ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐ PRINTED BY CHAS. STRAKER AND SONS, LONDON AND REDHILL. ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐ Masterpieces of Modern French Fiction. *MADEMOISELLE DE MAUPIN.* By THEOPHILE GAUTIER. With 17 High-class Etchings. Price 10s. 6d., elegantly bound. “The goldenbook of spirit and sense, the Holy Writ of beauty.”—_A. C. Swinburne_ *RENEE MAUPERIN.* By EDMOND and JULES DE GONCOURT. With Page Illustrations by JAMES TISSOT. Price 6s., handsomely bound. “One of the most pathetic romances of our day. Running through almost the whole gamut of human passion, it has the alternatives of sunshine and shade that exist in real life.”—_Morning Post._ *GERMINIE LACERTEUX.* By EDMOND and JULES DE GONCOURT. Illustrated with Highly-finished Etchings. Price 6s., handsomely bound. “For myself, I can say that I could not lay the book down for a moment until I had finished it.”—Letters on Books in _Truth_. *A LOVE CRIME.* By PAUL BOURGET. Price 3s. 6d. Uniform with “A Cruel Enigma.” “Who could take up such books, by the way admirably translated, and not be simply and absolutely spell-bound?”—_Truth._ *A CRUEL ENIGMA.* By PAUL BOURGET. In tasteful binding. Price 3s. 6d. “M. Bourget’s most remarkable work, ‘A Cruel Enigma,’ has placed him above all competitors.”—_Athenæum._