“ I have proofs, great proofs. I shall show them.”
Then I cried and kissed him.
“ Tell me one thing, one thing,” he said (as though it all depended upon me), “my wife, my children! My wife may die of grief, and though my children won’t lose their rank and property, they’ll be a convict’s children and for ever! And what a memory, what a memory of me I shall leave in their hearts!”
I said nothing.
“ And to part from them, to leave them for ever? It’s for ever, you know, for ever!”
I sat still and repeated a silent prayer. I got up at last, I felt afraid.
“ Well?” He looked at me.
“ Go!” said I, “confess. Everything passes, only the truth remains. Your children will understand, when they grow up, the nobility of your resolution.”
He left me that time as though he had made up
