I had no need then to bid my comrade command himself. He rose on the instant from the ground, where he had lain writhing, and fiercely rejecting all offer of assistance on my part, followed in the wake of the ghastly procession.
They bore it to the nearest station and there claimed their reward. Think of it! We, who would have given our all to save the living woman, were outbidden by these carrion crows who staked upon the dead!
Again at this point a lapse comes into my memory. Out of it grows a figure, that of Duke, that stands before me and speaks with the horrible smile again on its lips.
“You had better go home,” it says.
“Duke—why? What comes next? What are you going to do?”
“What does it matter? You had better go home.”
“I must know. Was there anything upon the—upon the body? Duke—was there?”
“There was a letter.”
“Who from?”
“Go home, I tell you.”