The Equinox (Volume I, Number III)

THE EYES OF ST. LJUBOV “What, do they burn? do they feel cool to the hand?” “Only to the eye, dear. remember. One sets them in gold and wears them hanging from the ear, or round one’s neck.” “Would you like to /ee/ some, Ljubov?” “Oh yes! ... But, it’s no use, dear, I couldn't see them.” “Perhaps you would like just to pass your fingers over them, and try to imagine what they . .. er . . . look like?” “TI think I would. Then I could explain better to you what I mean.” Piotr sighed again and soon left her. In the evening he wandered around the house where the Lady was staying. She was walking in the garden and he listened to her voice while she sang softly to herself. Presently she sat down. Piotr was well used to directing his steps without the use of eyes, and he managed to creep behind her. A fixed idea had taken possession of his childish brain. He would take the jewels everyone thought so beautiful, and take them to Ljubov. Suddenly, he sprang forward and his hands searched in the darkness for the ears. A tiny little sound, made by the Lady, as she turned round, helped him to find the place. His fingers closed on each side over the ears and he pulled out with a violent movement. The Lady fell unconscious without having uttered a sound, so acute and sudden had been the pain. Piotr went away slowly, his hands grasping two ear-rings with a little piece of human flesh attached to them. 305