Little by little he began to feel the horror of it, remembering how he picked the book up from where it had fallen before her.

Slowly, but with relentless certainty, his mind cleared to what he saw.
Now for the first time he began to notice the words that showed dimly through the stain, began to read them, to puzzle them out, as if they were new to him:-- "But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you, "Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you.
"And unto him that smiteth thee on the one cheek, offer also the other; and him that taketh away thy cloke forbid not to take thy coat also.
"Give to every man that asketh of thee; and of him that taketh away thy goods ask them not again.
"And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise." Again and again he read them.

They were illumined with a strangely terrible meaning by the blood of her he had loved and sworn to keep himself clean for.
He could no longer fight off the truth.

It was facing him now in all its nakedness, monstrous to obscenity, demanding its due measure from his own soul's blood.

He aroused himself, shivering, and looked out into the room where the shadows lay heavy, and from whence came the breathing of the sleepers.