The apartmenthad no look of desertion. His wife's tidiness was one of the traits which hadso much pleased him; his own upbringing had given him a tender sympathy for thedelight in orderliness; and when he had seen her instinctive desire to put eachthing in its appointed place it had given him a little warm feeling in hisheart. The bedroom looked as though she had just left it: the brushes wereneatly placed on the toilet-table, one on each side of the comb; someone hadsmoothed down the bed on which she had spent her last night in the studio; andher nightdress in a little case lay on the pillow. It was impossible to believethat she would never come into that room again.

But he feltthirsty, and went into the kitchen to get himself some water. Here, too, wasorder. On a rack were the plates that she had used for dinner on the night ofher quarrel with Strickland, and they had been carefully washed. The knives andforks were put away in a drawer. Under a cover were the remains of a piece ofcheese, and in a tin box was a crust of bread. She had done her marketing fromday to day, buying only what was strictly needful, so that nothing was leftover from one day to the next. Stroeve knew from the enquiries made by thepolice that Strickland had walked out of the house immediately after dinner,and the fact that Blanche had washed up the things as usual gave him a littlethrill of horror. Her methodicalness made her suicide more deliberate. Herself-possession was frightening. A sudden pang seized him, and his knees feltso weak that he almost fell. He went back into the bedroom and threw himself onthe bed. He cried out her name.

"Blanche.Blanche. "

房间不象没人住的样子。勃朗什习性整洁，施特略夫非常喜次她这一点。他小时候的教养使他对别人爱好整洁的习惯极富同感。当他看到勃朗什出于天性样样东西都放得井井有条，他心里有一种热呼呼的感觉。卧室看上去象是她离开没有多久的样子：几把刷子整整齐齐地摆在梳妆台上，每一把放在一只梳子旁边；她在画室里最后一夜睡过的床铺不知有谁整理过，铺得平平整整；她的睡衣放在一个小盒子里，摆在枕头上面。真不能相信，她永远也不回这间屋子里来了。

他感到口渴，走进厨房去给自己弄一点水喝。厨房也整齐有序。她同思特里克兰德吵嘴的那天晚上，晚饭使用的餐具已经摆好在碗架上，而且洗得干干净净。刀叉收好在一只抽屉里。吃剩的一块干酪用一件什么器皿扣起来，一个洋铁盒里放着一块面包。她总是每天上街采购，只买当天最需要的东西，因此从来没有什么东西留到第二天。从进行调查的警察那里施特略夫了解到，那天晚上思特里克兰德一吃过晚饭就离开了这所房子，而勃朗什居然还象通常一样洗碟子刷碗，这真叫人不寒而栗。勃朗什临死以前还这样有条有理地做家务活儿，这说明了她的自杀是周密计划的。她的自制能力让人觉得可怕。突然间，施特略夫感到心如刀绞，两膝发软，几乎跌倒在地上。他回到卧室，一头扎在床上，大声地呼唤着她的名字：

“勃朗什！勃朗什！”