“That's why you—”
He stopped.
“That's why I came. That's why I broke my pledge. I thought wine—any weapon to keep you from this crime. And, Sergius, think. Vernon dead could never have restored Olga to the place she has lost. That, too, must have driven me to the right course, though I scarcely thought of it till now.”
Sergius said, as if in reply: “So you have understood me!”
“Yes, Sergius. Friendship is something. Let us thank God, not even that he is safe, but that you—you are safe—and that Olga—”
“Hush! Has she gone with him?”
“She will meet him. He has sworn to marry her.”
The hand of Sergius moved to his left breast. Anthony's glowing eyes were fixed upon him.
“Ah, yes, Sergius,” Anthony cried. “Put that cursed, cursed thing down, put it away. Now it can never wreck your life and my peace.”