Arithelli shook her head.
"That is not the reason. They have given Emile other work to do in
Russia. He is leaving here very soon. I thought you knew."
"Who told you that Poleski is going away? It may not be true."
"Emile himself. Oh! it's true enough. I don't know when he will go.
He doesn't know himself, but soon."
"Will you trust me to take care of you when Poleski is gone?"
"I'll trust you always."
"Promise me you'll come away with me. If you care you'll come. I'll give up the Cause for your sake. I've told you so in my letter and now I say it again."
"So I've made you a traitor. Sobrenski was right."
"My sweet, how can I live with violence and death and misery since I have known you? I want to get away from men and back to Nature to be healed. It doesn't follow that because I have grown to hate some of the revolutionist methods that I am against all their theories. I believe they are right in sharing things, in fighting for those who are trodden down by the rich, but you and I can still believe all that without becoming inhuman. Think of Sobrenski. He's a werewolf, not a man! Promise me that you'll come soon. Let me take you away before they make you one of their 'angels of vengeance,' as they call these women of the revolution."
Excitement and the feverish devil of consumption had turned his blood to fire. He would take no denial, pay no heed to Arithelli's entreaties for time to think, and to consult Emile.