"Samuel!" replied the curate; "why should our hands meet, since our hearts are far asunder?"
The sheriff threw himself back in his chair.
"Alas!" cried he; "and you, too, repulse me! you, too, condemn me, Balthasar! you, whose heart is so full of love and pity!"
Vandory was deeply moved by the sorrow which his brother's features expressed.
"I condemn no one," said he. "Believe me, I would not have come to you if I were not convinced that your good natural disposition would triumph over these guilty passions. But the least delay is fatal. Tengelyi is in prison——"
"Don't name him!" cried Rety, violently. "Would to God I had never heard his name!"
"You are indeed far gone," sighed Vandory. "To think that, instead of repenting, you should hate the man whose pardon you ought to implore!"
"Implore his pardon? his?" cried Rety. "No! he is the spoiler, the destroyer! Is it not he who caused my only son to leave my house, cursing fate which made him son to me? Is it not he who robs me of the affections of the last person that loved me? Tell me of one of my sufferings which may not be traced to him!"
"And who is the cause of all this?"
The sheriff was silent.