"I simply feel sorry for my life.

It is a splendid thing, no matter what the pessimists say about it.

What if they were to hang a pessimist?
Ah, I feel sorry for life, very sorry! And why does my beard grow now?
It didn't grow before, but suddenly it grows--why ?" He shook his head mournfully, heaving long, painful sighs.

Silence--then a sigh; then a brief silence again--followed by a longer, deeper sigh.
Thus it went on until the trial and the terrible meeting with his parents.

When he awoke in his cell the next day he realized clearly that everything between him and life was ended, that there were only a few empty hours of waiting and then death would come,--and a strange sensation took possession of him.