'Father Sergius! I will change my life. Do not forsake me!'

'Forgive me--and give me your blessing!'

'In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost!'--she heard his voice from behind the partition. 'Go!'

She burst into sobs and left the cell. The lawyer came forward to meet her.

'Well, I see I have lost the bet. It can't be helped. Where will you sit?'

She took a seat in the sledge, and did not utter a word all the way home.

A year later she entered a convent as a novice, and lived a strict life under the direction of the hermit Arseny, who wrote letters to her at long intervals.

Father Sergius lived as a recluse for another seven years.