“Her brother walked behind us.  Half-way up the short flight she seemed unable to lift her feet high enough for the steps, and we had to pull and push to get her to the top.  In the passage she dragged herself along, hanging on my arm, helplessly bent like an old woman.  We issued into an empty street through a half-open door, staggering like besotted revellers.  At the corner we stopped a four-wheeler, and the ancient driver looked round from his box with morose scorn at our efforts to get her in.  Twice during the drive I felt her collapse on my shoulder in a half faint.  Facing us, the youth in knickerbockers remained as mute as a fish, and, till he jumped out with the latch-key, sat more still than I would have believed it possible.

“At the door of their drawing-room she left my arm and walked in first, catching at the chairs and tables.  She unpinned her hat, then, exhausted with the effort, her cloak still hanging from her shoulders, flung herself into a deep armchair, sideways, her face half buried in a cushion.  The good brother appeared silently before her with a glass of water.  She motioned it away.  He drank it himself and walked off to a distant corner—­behind the grand piano, somewhere.  All was still in this room where I had seen, for the first time, Sevrin, the anti-anarchist, captivated and spellbound by the consummate and hereditary grimaces that in a certain sphere of life take the place of feelings with an excellent effect.  I suppose her thoughts were busy with the same memory.  Her shoulders shook violently.  A pure attack of nerves.  When it quieted down she affected firmness, ’What is done to a man of that sort?  What will they do to him?’

“‘Nothing.  They can do nothing to him,’ I assured her, with perfect truth.  I was pretty certain he had died in less than twenty minutes from the moment his hand had gone to his lips.  For if his fanatical anti-anarchism went even as far as carrying poison in his pocket, only to rob his adversaries of legitimate vengeance, I knew he would take care to provide something that would not fail him when required.

“She drew an angry breath.  There were red spots on her cheeks and a feverish brilliance in her eyes.

“’Has ever any one been exposed to such a terrible experience?  To think that he had held my hand!  That man!’ Her face twitched, she gulped down a pathetic sob.  ’If I ever felt sure of anything, it was of Sevrin’s high-minded motives.’

“Then she began to weep quietly, which was good for her.  Then through her flood of tears, half resentful, ’What was it he said to me?—­“From conviction!” It seemed a vile mockery.  What could he mean by it?’

“‘That, my dear young lady,’ I said, gently, ’is more than I or anybody else can ever explain to you.’”

Mr. X flicked a crumb off the front of his coat.