The latter she might have
done at night, but when the night came the deed seemed to be more
horrid than it would be even in the day.
She observed also, more accurately than she had ever done before, that
he always carried the key of his desk with him. He did not, indeed, put
it under his pillow, or conceal it in bed, but he placed it with an old
spectacle-case which he always carried, and a little worn pocket-book
which Nina knew to be empty, on a low table which stood at his bed-
head; and now during the whole of the afternoon he had the key on the
table beside him. Nina did not doubt but that she could take the key
while he was asleep; for when he was even half asleep--which was
perhaps his most customary state--he would not stir when she entered
the room. But if she took it at all, she would do so in the day. She
could not bring herself to creep into the room in the night, and to
steal the key in the dark. As she lay in bed she still thought of it.
She had promised her lover that she would do this thing. Should she
resolve not to do it, in spite of that promise, she must at any rate
tell Anton of her resolution.
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