At breakfast Kornei didn’t say a word to me, didn’t even look at me. As though I weren’t at the table. I, of course, sat there with my tail between my legs waiting for whatever would happen, and, I have to say, feeling incredibly crummy. The whole time I felt dirty all over, like killing myself. Well, I managed to finish the meal and went up to my room. I put on my uniform, but it didn’t help. In fact, it made me feel even worse. I picked up His Highness’s portrait, but it slipped out of my hands and rolled under the cot. I didn’t bother to retrieve it. I sat down by the window, resting my elbows on the window ledge, and stared out into the garden; I saw nothing, wanted nothing. I wanted to go home. Just go home, where everything was different. Why had I been cursed by fate? I had seen a l
