TE17 Mysterious Montenegro

Milovan Radojević

me that he was trying, with all his being, to dispel the last doubt that set us apart, and I thought this was the moment I had been waiting for, for so many days: “If my life lasts a few days longer—,” I began, accepting the scroll from his hand. “It will, that much is clear!” he interrupted me quietly, in a tone that left no room for doubt.

“None but the Lord can know,” I hurried to add, so hiswordwould not be the last.

“Unroll the will and read it when I am no longer,” he said coldly and turned, as if he had not heard my comment, went to the window, and pushed open the shutters. The sun was sinking into the west and the loud, rhythmic chirruping of cicadas filled the room. He stood staring away into the distance, and I left him again, without us having spoken about anything significant. I was no longer convinced that anything could be returned to the way it had been, and I was overcome by a sinking feeling and painful foreboding. Whispers spread through Svač in the days that followed that none other than the bishop himself had killed Lazar Pervosio. 22 As is often thecase, soon loud accusationswerealsoheard, and Šćepan, who gladly partook in every evil, called the people together and made some of them attest that they had seen the Bishop of Svač

by Lazar’s house that night, with their own eyes: 22 . A usurer in Svač, brother of the abovementioned Šćepan.

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