“Yes, more—I knew it.”
Sergius nodded.
“I see,” he said.
Anthony touched his arm, almost with an awe-struck gesture.
“I knew then that you—that you intended to kill Vernon. And—God forgive me!—at first I was almost glad.”
“Well—go on!”
Anthony shivered. The voice of Sergius was so strangely calm and level.
“I—I—” he stammered. “Serge, why do you look at me like that?”
Sergius looked away without a word.
“For I, too, hated Vernon, more for what he had done to you even than for what he had done to Olga. But, Sergius, after you had gone, in the night, and in the dawn too, I kept on thinking of it over and over. I couldn't get away from it—that you were going to commit such an awful crime. I never slept. When at last it was morning, I went down to my district; there are criminals there, you know.”