“Oh, you damnable spy!”
The life went out of her almost as though his words had been a bullet into her heart. She stared at him, silent, shrinking, stricken with consternation.
“I see you cannot deny it!”
“It’s—false,” came from her dry lips.
“You lie!”
“It’s false! It’s false!”
“Of course you deny it. A woman would not hesitate at another lie, whose trade it is to make friends and sell them to their death. God, what shall I do to you? You woman Judas!”
It was less the fear of the fate she thought she saw in his rageful face than the frantic desire to escape this awful accusation from the man she loved, that prompted her to cry out desperately: “It’s false! You’ve been deceived! I’m innocent!”
“You lie, I say. Your guilt is all over your face!” He thought of Sonya, Sonya inspired by the holy desire to help her people out of their bitter suffering—betrayed! His eyes blazed with a yet fiercer wrath. “I should kill you as ruthlessly as you kill others.”
“I’m innocent! I’m innocent!” she gasped.