"Everything is possible," Pannis said with a faint smile. "Perhaps you are right. Now, if I were to contemplate it, I might make the same guess, considering that at the time I couldn't grasp such a notion. Those years, I loathed myself deeply and believed that Nellie should despise me just the same. She wouldn't want to see me liberated, but instead hoped that I would be forever tormented by my conscience, which is why I was condemned never to die."
"So what?" Catherine asked softly. "Did you resent her back then?"
