o have so cruelly wronged me? And has all
manliness left you, that you should ask me to open my heart to you in
the presence of a slave; one, too, who has pursued me for weeks with her
treacherous hate, and now stands gloating over the misery which she has
brought upon me? I tell you that I have said or done nothing which I
cannot justify; but that neither will I deign to explain aught to any
but yourself alone.'

'The same old excuse!' retorted Sergius. 'No harm done--nothing which
cannot be accounted for in all innocence; and yet, upon some poor
pretence of wounded pride, that easy explanation will not be vouchsafed!
And all the while the damning proof and author of the guilt lies before
me!'

With that he extended his foot, and touched the senseless body of
Cleotos--striking it carelessly, and not too gently. The effect of the
speech and action was to arouse still more actively the energetic
impulses of AEnone--but not, alas! to that bold display of conscious
innocence with which, a moment before, she had threatened to sweep aside
his insinuations, and make good her justification. She was now rather
driven into a passion of reckless daring--believing that her fate was
prejudged and forestalled--caring but little what might happen to
her--wishing only to give way to her most open impulses, let the
consequences be what they might. Therefore, in yielding to that spirit
of defiance, she did the thing which of all others harmed her most,
since its immediate and natural result was to give greater cogency to
the suspicions against her. Stooping down and resting herself upon the
lounge, she raised the head of the still senseless Cleotos upon her lap,
and began tenderly to wipe his lips, from a wound in which a slight
stream of blood had begun to ooze.

'He and I are innocent,' she said. 'I have treated him as a brother,
that is all. It is years ago that I met him first, and then he was still
more to me than now. He is now poor and in misery, and I cannot abandon
him. Had he been in your place, and you in his, he would not have thus,
without proof, condemned you, and then have insulted your lifeless
body.'

For a moment Sergius stood aghast. Excuse and pleading he was prepared
to hear. Recriminations would not have surprised him, for he knew that
his own course would not bear investigation, and nothing, therefore,
could be more natural than that she should attempt to defend herself by
becoming the assailant in turn. But