THE EYES OF ST. LJUBOV
Briefly—for the time is approaching which we must better
utilize—Piotr’s hand shook so that he missed touching the
lobe of little Ljubov’s ear. The jewel he held up to her face
touched, instead, one of the empty orbits of his little friend.
Our villain, the Man who bought and stole Eyes, must
have done his job very properly indeed, for Ljubov, who, in a
vain attempt to see that which was shewn her, had opened
wide the dark cavities under her eyebrows. Well, I suppose
the eye touched a still sensitive nerve. No sooner had it done
so than she uttered an exclamation.
“T see! Piotr, I sez! I see!”
And helping herself now, she rapidly unset the eyes from
their golden crown and thrust them where they ought to have
been all that time. Miracle of Miracles! She saw as you and
I do. She saw poor little Piotr who stood before her, almost
out of his mind, sharing her excitement.
She took his hand, drew him to her and kissed his fore-
head. Then she wept for a long time. Finally, she sat down by
him and told him of her new sensations.
VI
But they were unsatisfactory. The sky she saw was, in
spite of the Stars, inferior to the beauty she had endowed it
with. The sweet face of her little friend even was less sweet
to behold than it had been to her childish fancy. And, gently,
with an extraordinary delicacy, she spoke of her disappoint-
ment.
“Oh! it was more beautiful as we thought it, Piotroushka!”
she exclaimed.
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