And Hope smiled, and laughed, and clapped her hands with the free delight of a child--
"Isn't that the best, best gift? Isn't it just perfect?"
--and if that was murder, if that was zealous or inhumanly practical, if that was the act of a mind who understood love as a passion and not a sacrifice, if that was something Elpis would never have previously even considered to do, what did it matter now?