“Why?”
“Any man that brings a girl to the dust is a coward.”
“Ah—that's not what you meant,” Sergius said.
Anthony stole a glance at the clock. The hand crawled slowly over the quarter of an hour past ten.
“No, it was not,” he said slowly.
IV
Sergius got up from his chair and stood by the fire. He was obviously becoming engrossed by the conversation. Anthony could at least notice this with thankfulness.
“Anthony, I see you've got a fresh knowledge of Vernon since I was with you yesterday,” Sergius continued; “some new knowledge of his nature.”
“Perhaps I have.”