"I do not know. But I think not within a hundred miles of this place."
Miss Forester and the Governor then entered, and there was much petting and consoling of the girl, who was completely reassured by what they told her.
"How came my good friend Vronsky to know of this traitor, Cravatz?" asked the Governor, when they were all seated and talking the thing over.
"That is part of what I have come to-day to tell you," replied Felix. "If I have your permission, sir, I will tell it to both these ladies as well as to yourself. I have no wish to sail under false colors. I wished Vronsky to tell you when first I had the honor of being presented to you. But at that time he thought it better not, little dreaming that circumstances would later arise which would bring me into such a strange position with regard to your Excellency."
The Governor looked curiously at the young man, who stood up before them with pride and composure, though his confession would evidently cost him an effort. "You have my permission to speak, if you think what you have to say is necessary for me to hear," he replied, kindly.
"Then I will speak," said Felix, "and if, after you have heard, you think it better for me to take my leave at once, and not again to accept your hospitality, nor visit your house, as it has been my delight and privilege to do, I shall feel that you are justified in your decision." He hesitated a moment. There was a deep silence, which showed how much his unexpected words had impressed his three auditors.
"You are an Englishman, I have always understood?" asked Stepan Stepanovitch, abruptly.
"I am," replied Felix, in some distress. "Both my parents were English, and on my father's side I come of a good old family. As you may know, the English county gentry hold themselves the equals of the Continental nobility. The Vanstons trace back their pedigree to a Flemish noble, one Van Steen, who came to the Court of England with Queen Anne of Cleves, married an Englishwoman, and founded a family."
"Yet you seem to imply that you yourself have been in some sort involved with this miscreant Cravatz. I ask your pardon if I have misunderstood you."
Felix crimsoned, like a boy. Nadia, who had never till that moment seen his face express emotion, gazed with a thrill of excitement at the feeling which he evidently found it hard to control. He spoke low and rapidly. "When I was quite a young man I unhappily became imbued with revolutionary notions. There are in London plenty of desperate characters who are ready and waiting to take advantage of the enthusiasm of young lads such as I was. I fell into the hands of an Anarchist Brotherhood. I was put on by them to do the more dangerous part of their propaganda. The police interfered, I was sent to prison for a term of two years, and have actually served my sentence in an English jail."