_Could_ he so rapidly sink to this, if he were indeed the man I thought him?
Would he not rather have--oh, have done _anything_ ?--Yet this may be only a temptation of my lower self, a way of giving ease to my conscience.

Despair may account for his degradation.

And when I remember that a word, one word, from me, the right moment, would have checked him on the dangerous path! When I saw 'Sanctuary,' why had I not the courage to tell him what I thought?
No, I became the accomplice of his suicide, and I, alone, am the cause of this wretched disaster .-- Before long he will be rich.

Can you imagine N.F._rich_?
I shudder at the thought." The paper rustled in Bertha's hand; her shoulders shook; she could no longer restrain the merry laugh.

When she sat down to answer Rosamund, a roguish smile played about her lips.
"I grieve with you"-- thus she began--"over the shocking prospect of N.
F.'s becoming _rich_.