of his confession. Shall I confess that my first impulse was to do an
extremely silly and inconsiderate thing? I felt inclined, foolish as
it will sound, to walk upstairs and to introduce myself sardonically
to Herr Sacovitch, since that was the gentleman's name, with the
proclamation of my newly-acquired knowledge of his business, and request
that he would waste no further time in prosecuting it so far as I was
concerned. But this foolish desire had scarcely occurred to me before I
threw it out of the window. If the man believed himself to be unknown,
I had the whip-hand of him in knowing him, and to have exposed my
knowledge would only have been to release him for the prosecution of
useful business on his own side, while some other person, whom I might
never have the luck to recognize at all, would take his place. I was
rather flattered, on the whole, to think that a great European power
like Austria found it worth while to put a watch upon my actions; but
there was only a passing satisfaction in that fancy. I could not get
poor old Ruffiano out of ray head that night. I undressed and went to
bed, but I courted sleep in vain. All night long I heard the quarters
strike, and then the hours, and all night long the picture of the good,
genial, patient, suffering old man fairly haunted me. There were times
when I blamed myself severely for having allowed his betrayer to go
free at all, and there were moments when, if Brunow had been once again
before me, I should have had no control over myself. But, after all,
mercy is just as much a duty as justice, and on looking back I am not
disposed to censure myself very heavily for the course I took. I can
think of nothing more hateful than Brunow's crime, and of nothing more
just than the punishment which finally befell him; but I am glad that
the act of vengeance was not mine.

It was bright morning when at last I fell asleep, and before that
happened I had formed one clear resolution. This was to seek out Violet
in the course of the day, to let-her know what had happened, and consult
her judgment as to what my own course should be. In the meantime Brunow,
in a debtor's prison, could do no further mischief, and was, at the same
time, safe from immediate vengeance. There was time for a pause before
further action was needed, and it was this reflection more than anything
else which calmed me down at last into a state of mind in which sleep
was possible.

I breakfasted at the usu