'Yes,' he answered, 'I admit that.'
He had not moved again and there was a window near her. She sprang to it and thrust the curtains aside, hoping to open the frame before he could stop her. But though she moved the fastenings easily, she could do no more, with all her strength, and Giovanni still stood motionless, watching her.
'You cannot open that window,' he said quietly. 'If you scream, no one will hear you. Do you think I would have brought you to a place where you could get help merely by crying out for it? The risk was too great. I have made sure of being alone with you as long as I choose.'
The nun drew herself up against the red curtains.
'I did not know that you were a coward,' she said.
'I am what you have made me, brave, cowardly, desperate—anything you choose to call it! But such as I am, you must hear me to the end this time, for you have no choice.'
Sister Giovanna understood that there was no escape and she stood quite still; but he saw that her lips moved a little.
'God is not here,' he said, in a hard voice, for he knew that she was praying.
'God is here,' she answered, crossing her hands on her breast.
He came a step nearer and leaned on the back of a chair; he was evidently controlling himself, for his movements were studiedly deliberate, though his voice was beginning to shake ominously.