"I knew it. I was sure you didn't intend it," said his sister. "Don't you know----" The tears welled up in her eyes, and she touched her brother's hand. It was spoken tenderly; he understood her, and was affected. The meaning of her words was that, besides her love for her husband, her love for her brother was dear and important to her, and that any disagreement with him caused her suffering. "Thank you, thank you. Oh, what I have seen to-day!" he said, suddenly recalling the two dead convicts. "Two convicts have been killed." "How killed?" "So, simply killed. They have been brought here in this heat, and two of them died from sunstroke." "Impossible! How? To-day? Just now?" "Yes, just now. I have seen their corpses." "Why were they killed? Who killed them?" asked Natalia Ivanovna. "Those who forcibly brought them here," said Nekhludoff excitedly, feeling that she took the same view of this as her husband. "Oh, my God!" said Agrippina Petrovna, coming nearer to them. "Yes, we have no conception of the life these unfortunates are leading, and it is necessary to know it," Nekhludoff added, looking at the old Prince, who, sitting at the table with a napkin tucked under his chin and a large glass before him, at that moment glanced at Nekhludoff. "Nekhludoff," he shouted. "Won't you take sauce to cool off? It is excellent stuff." Nekhludoff refused and turned away. "But what will you do?" continued Natalia Ivanovna. "I will do what I can. I do not know what, but I feel that I must do something. And I will do what I can." "Yes, yes, I understand that. And what about him?" she said, smiling and nodding in the direction of Korchagin. "Is it really all over?" "Yes, it is and I think without regret on either side." "I am very sorry. I like her. But I suppose it must be so. But why should you bind yourself? Why are you following her?" "Because it is proper that I should," Nekhludoff said dryly, as though desiring to change the subject. But he immediately felt ashamed of his coldness to his sister. "Why should I not tell her what I think?" he thought; "and let Agrippina Petrovna also know it," he said to himself, looking at the old servant. The presence of Agrippina Petrovna only encouraged him to repeat his decision to his sister. "You are speaking of my intention to marry Katiusha. You see, I have decided to do it, but she firmly and decidedly refused me," he said, and his voice trembled, as it always did when he spoke of it. "She does not desire my sacrifice, and in her position she sacrifices very much, and I could not accept her sacrifice, even if it were only momentary. That is why I am following her, and I will be near her, and will endeavor to relieve her condition as far as I am able."