"Could I let him live to destroy the patriots whose sworn fellow I was?
Do you think I could ever sleep again without dreaming of their fate?
Could I kill him there in his bed--I, the physician he trusted? Could I
do that?"
"In God's name," I cried, "what did you do?"
He regarded me with a look that challenged my very deepest thought.
"The patriots were spared," he answered. "That was my fee for saving the
life of General Kakonzoff. A year later I paid for having asked that
favor by being exiled myself."
"And--and--the other?" I asked.
"She, thank God, is dead."
For a moment or two we remained motionless and unspeaking. Then I
silently held out my hand to him. I had no words.