Vesper said nothing, but he gave Agapit a terrible glance, and that young man, although biting his lip and scowling fiercely, discreetly stepped into the hall.
For half a minute Rose lay unresistingly in Vesper's arms, then she gently forced him from the room, and with a low and bitter cry, "For this I must atone," she opened her prayer-book, and again dropped on her knees.
Once more the two young men found themselves in the smoking-room.
"Now, what is it?" asked Vesper, sternly.
Agapit hung his head. In accents of deepest shame he murmured, "Charlitte yet lives."
"Charlitte—what, Rose's husband?"
A miserable nod from Agapit answered his question.
"It is rumor," stammered Vesper; "it cannot be. You said that he was dead."
"He has been seen,—the miserable man lives with another woman."