He paused with a smile.
"Then——?" said Catherine, leaning slightly forward.
"Then that human being may cut our thread prematurely, and down we go to death."
Catherine drew in her breath sharply.
"But that again," continued Berrand. "Is man—or woman—not the fantasy you call Fate?"
"Perhaps Fate can take possession of a man or a woman," Catherine said slowly and thoughtfully, "govern them, act through them."
"That's a dangerous doctrine. You believe that criminals are irresponsible then?"
"I don't know," she said. "I suppose there must be an agent. Yes, I suppose there must."
She spoke as one who is thinking out a problem.
"God," she continued, after a moment of silence, "may choose to use a man or woman as an agent instead of a disease."