“Have you considered?” whispered the voice, still as from afar. “I repeat it,—I alone can save you.”
“Is it among the conditions which you ask, in return, that I shall resign to you the woman I love?”
“No.”
“Is it one of the conditions that I should commit some crime,—a crime perhaps heinous as that of which I am accused?”
“No.”
“With such reservations, I accept the conditions you may name, provided I, in my turn, may demand one condition from yourself.”
“Name it.”
“I ask you to quit this town. I ask you, meanwhile, to cease your visits to the house that holds the woman betrothed to me.”
“I will cease those visits. And before many days are over, I will quit this town.”
“Now, then, say what you ask from me. I am prepared to concede it. And not from fear for myself, but because I fear for the pure and innocent being who is under the spell of your deadly fascination. This is your power over me. You command me through my love for another. Speak.”