Let me tell you that circumstances have arisen this
very day which rendered it impossible for me to keep myself out of this
flat, be the penalty what it might. And, finally, let me make my appeal
to you.'
'What do you want?' asked Polycarp quietly. The sincerity of Hugo's
emotion had touched him. 'Don't ask me to act contrary to my duty.'
'But that is just what I shall ask!' Hugo exclaimed. 'Leave me. Leave me
till to-morrow: that is my sole wish. What is your duty, after all?
Tudor is dead. He is beyond the reach of harm. He requires the
protection of no lawyer. Trust me, and leave me. I am an honest man.
Forget your law, forget your parchments, forget the conventions of
society, forget everything except that you are human, and can do a
service to a fellow-creature. Exercise some imagination, and see how
artificial and absurd is the world of ideas in which you live. Listen to
your heart, and help me. I am worth it. Can't you see how I suffer?
To-day I have been through as much as I can stand. I am at the end of my
forces, and I must have sympathy. You will be guilty of deliberate
neglect of duty in leaving me here, but I implore you to leave me. And I
give no specific reason why you should. Will you?'
There was a silence.
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