He stared at her for a moment without replying. It seemed incredible that any one should not perceive his torture of anxiety. He forgot the iron will whereby he had kept it hidden. To sit idly hour after hour, as he had done that day, poignantly conscious of every train that might have taken him to that one spot on the earth whither every fibre of his being was drawn, to disregard the piteous appeals made to him from time to time, to come and comfort the dying man whom he loved so passionately, had been an effort of almost superhuman strength. The inability of his questioner to realise his suffering bewildered him. At that instant of time it was his whole existence. “A man's duty is above love or death,” he said coldly, after a pause. “I can't discuss it with you, for you would not understand. At least, I have served him in delivering you.” She gripped the arms of the seat and for a while said nothing. Then as the train moved on, she spoke somewhat huskily, forcing herself to her point. “Are you going to carry out your intentions--as regards--_him?_” “Certainly.” “Has he not been punished enough already?” “I don't understand you,” said Sylvester. “He has broken the law. He has murdered my father. What punishment has he had yet? He shall have his deserts,--whatever term of penal servitude the judge thinks fit to give him.” “For God's sake have mercy, Sylvester!” cried the girl, leaning forward in her seat, so that her voice should reach him above the rhythmic clatter and the creaking of the train. “If that happened to him, it would kill me. The awful horror of it,--have you thought?” “I have been trained for years to think deeply before acting, even in trivial matters,” he replied. “Heaven knows what awful temptation he may have had,” said Ella. “A man who cannot resist temptation is better out of the world.” Ella's eyes flashed. The encounter braced her nerves. “Have you always resisted temptation?” she cried in sharp scorn. “I have lived my life a stainless and an upright man,” he replied sternly. “So did Christ; but he had pity.” “I am not Christ. I am mortal, and have my limitations. Listen. This man admitted his forgery. Out of regard for you, I was weak enough to allow him a chance of escape, on certain definite conditions. These he violated, like the scoundrel he is. To let him loose now on society would be a crime on my part.” “To pardon the man who has wronged you would be the higher action,” said Ella. “It would be mere weakness,” replied Sylvester. Ella threw out her hands in a gesture of despair, and flung herself back against the cushions. Then suddenly she bent forward again, and laid a hand upon his knee.