Would you take it upon yourself
to endanger your guardian's life still more? Every further day
spent in his prison, in this anxiety, might be fatal."
"But this promise? The promise demanded of me by the man to whom
I had given my love? Is it not my duty to keep it?"
Muller rose from his chair. His slight figure seemed to grow
taller, and the gentleness in his voice gave way to a commanding
tone of firm decision.
"Our duty is to the living, not to the dead. The dead have no right
to drag down others after them. Believe me, Miss Roemer, the
purpose that was in your betrothed's mind when he ended his own
life, has been fulfilled. Albert Graumann knows now what are the
feelings of a man who bears the prison stigma unjustly. He will
never again judge his fellow-men as harshly as he has done until
now. His soul has been purged in these terrible days; have you
the right to endanger his life needlessly?"
"Oh, I do not know! I do not know what to do."
"I have no choice," said Muller firmly. "It is my duty to make
known the fact to the Police Commissioner that there is such a
letter in existence. The Police Commissioner will then have to
follow his duty in demanding the letter from you. Mr. Pernburg,
Sider's friend, saw this argument at once. Although he also had
a letter from the dead man, asking him to send the enclosure to
you, registered, on a certain date, he knew that it was his duty
to give all the papers to the authorities.
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