It was the first time that any soul had pitied Felix Vanston for his downfall. The whole world had said to him: "You have sinned." Not one human soul had said: "You have suffered." "I have suffered," he said, slowly, "and through all my future I must suffer. I am branded, I am a marked man. I have disgraced my father's name. And yet I meant no harm. I entered upon the thing not knowing what I did. I was full of compassion and of thoughts about brotherhood. _Brotherhood!_"--he broke off with a sneer that was half a cry. "Do you know that now the very word brotherhood means to me something that is ruthless, terrible, secret--something that strikes in the dark--something that will reach you and punish you, however distant. That was what it seemed to Loris and to me. We were caught and held in its meshes. We might struggle, we could not get free. His sentence was six months shorter than mine. He went away to Styria the moment his ticket-of-leave expired. The Brotherhood let you alone as long as the ticket-of-leave lasts, for they do not want the police to know anything of their movements; and as long as you are under surveillance they lie low. I shall be free of the police in a week from now. And then--then I have to reckon with the Brotherhood." "Go abroad," said Vronsky. "You are a good linguist, you should do well abroad." "Yes," said Felix, "but there is something I must do first; something that counts before my own safety." The Russian looked sympathetic. "A woman?" "My sister," said Felix, laying the stump of his cigarette down in his plate, and watching it sedulously. "She got into bad hands during my imprisonment. I have to put her in a place of safety. She is in hospital now--the result of an accident." "Take her abroad with you--why not?" "The old unanswerable argument--£ s. d.," said Felix, with a sad smile. "It costs twice as much--more than twice as much--to take a girl about with you." The conversation had been in French from the beginning. Now the young man stood up. "I must go," he said. "My job is not over. I have to be on the premises at night and keep watch. Many thanks for your good entertainment. This dinner has bucked me up." "Yes," said Vronsky, in an interested way. "They told me that in England they never cook at all, and that one eats food raw or goes without. But I have dined here well to-night." "So have I; and as it is the first time for very many nights, it leaves me most grateful to you for all your kindness." "Shall I see you again? I hope so. Stroll down after your work to-morrow, and have coffee with me and a smoke."