"What are you thinking of? I was only wiping my brow. Continue your story."
When they rose from table Topándy called Lorand aside.
"This young fellow knows nothing of what I related to you?"
"Absolutely nothing."
"So he has not the slightest suspicion that in that moment he plunged the knife into the heart of his father's murderer?"
"No. Nor shall he ever know it. A double mission has been entrusted to us, to be happy and to wreak vengeance. Neither of us can undertake both at once. He has started to be happy, his heart is full of sweetness, he is innocent, unsuspicious, enthusiastic: let him be happy: God forbid his days should be poisoned by such agonizing thoughts as will not let me rest!—I am enough myself for revenge, embittered as I am from head to foot. The secret is known only to us, to grandmother and the Pharisee himself. We shall complete the reckoning without the aid of happy men."
CHAPTER XXIII
THE DAY OF GLADNESS
"Let us go back at once to your darling," said Lorand next morning to his brother. "My affair is already concluded."