With a perfectly steady hand she held the papers out to Rosemary. "Take them, darling," she said. "Thank you for letting me decide. That is the one thing which we none of us would have forgiven, if you had published these articles without consulting us."
Rosemary took the papers, and with them Elza's hands, which she raised to her lips. She could not speak for the moment, she could only kiss those soft, white hands, which, with sublime heroism, were sacrificing an idolised son for an abstract idea of humanity and justice.
"Elza," she murmured at last, "have you thought of everything—of Maurus—of Anna's mother?"
"Anna," Elza replied softly, "has linked her fate with Philip's. Her mother is a hard woman, but she would not be a traitor to her own people. As for poor Maurus, the last of his tottering reason would go if I were to speak of this with him. But, sane or insane, he would not buy his son's life at this price. We are suffering enough, God knows, but how could we live in future, knowing that other fathers, other mothers, would have to go through this same misery because of our cowardice. These devils here would continue their work unchecked—perhaps not for long—but they would continue—no one would stop them—no one could criticise them after this. And mothers would suffer as I am suffering now—and fathers—and wives—our friends, perhaps. No, no," she said, with a shake of the head, "it can't be, my dear, it can't be."
She pushed Rosemary's hand away from her, the hand that still held the fateful papers. She thrust it aside, with eyes closed so as not to see that thing which meant Philip's life.
"I am going to see Charlotte Heves," she said, after a while. "I think I ought to tell her. And after that I shall see Philip and Anna. Those devils can't prevent my seeing my own son. I shall see Philip. I know what he will say. And you can destroy those papers, Rosemary, darling. Burn them. It was right to tell me, and now you know."
There was a knock at the door. Anton came in to say that the carriage was at the door. Elza was going to drive over to Ujlak first to see Anna's mother, and then to Cluj to see Philip and Anna.
"I shall not be home till late," she said as she gave Rosemary a good-bye kiss, "but everything is in order for you and dear Lord Tarkington. Maurus will be all right. He likes one of the sisters—the old one—and the doctor is coming before noon. So Maurus will be all right."
She fussed with her cloak and her veil; her pretty little hands shook ever so slightly, but her eyes were dry and they rested with great tenderness on Rosemary.
"It was quite right to tell me," were the last words she said. "Tell dear Lord Tarkington that I did not hesitate. Not for a moment."