Self would triumph, and Ida, if the fates so willed it, would be sacrificed.

It was detestable, but a fact; as good already as an accomplished fact.
And on the following morning Ida's note reached him.

It was final.

Her entreaty that he would merely send money had no weight with him for a moment; he felt that there was a contradiction between her words and her wishes.

This note explained the strangeness he had noticed in her on their last evening together.