And if my children were a barrier between you and me, I would strangle them with my own hands." She spoke with such savage determination that he shuddered.

But the battle must be fought out.

He must not yield now.
"There is nothing for it," he said after a pause, during which he stood with downcast eyes, fumbling nervously with the buttons of his morning coat.

"Our position would be equally wretched wherever we were.

Fate is stronger than we are.