"You cannot harm me," she cried. "See, see, God's angels are all around me now! They stretch out their arms to help me."
He seemed to be suffering agonies; his face was contorted, his eyes were lurid, and he appeared to be struggling with unseen powers.
"I will not yield," he cried; "not one iota will I yield. You are mine, you swore to serve me—I claim my own."
"The oath I took was evil, evil, and I break it. O eternal God, help me, help me. Save me, save me, for Christ's sake."
Romanoff seemed to hesitate what to do, then he made a movement as if to move towards her, but was powerless to do so. The hand which he had uplifted dropped to his side as if paralysed; he was in the presence of a Power greater than his own. He passed out of the room without another word.
The next day the flat of Countess Olga Petrovic was empty, but no one knew whither she had gone.
For more than a month after the scenes I have described, Dick Faversham was confined to his room. He suffered no pain, but he was languid, weak, and terribly depressed. An acquaintance who called to see him, shocked by his appearance, insisted on sending for a doctor, and this gentleman, after a careful examination, declared that while he was organically sound, he was in a low condition, and utterly unfit for work.
"You remind me of a man suffering from shell-shock," he said. "Have you had any sudden sorrow, or anything of that sort?"