In that brief instant then, who couldn’t Have read her tortured heart at last! And in the princess then, who wouldn’t Have known poor Tanya from the past! Mad with regret and anguished feeling, Eugene fell down before her, kneeling; She shuddered, but she didn’t speak, Just looked at him—her visage bleak— Without surprise or indignation. His stricken, sick, extinguished eyes, Imploring aspect, mute replies— She saw it all. In desolation, The simple girl he’d known before, Who’d dreamt and loved, was born once more.
