But such ties are not to be snapped so easily.
They found me, you see, and they will find me again--"
"Never!" exclaimed her husband. "They are as dead to you as if the
grave had swallowed them. I have taken care of that."
"But the shame! you have not taken care of that. That exists and must,
and while it does I remain where I can meet it alone. I love you;
God's sun is not dearer to my eyes; but I will never cross your
threshold as your wife till the opprobrium can be cut loose from my
skirts, and the shadow uplifted from my brow. A queen with high
thoughts in her eyes and brave hopes in her heart were not too good to
enter that door with you. Shall a girl who has lived three weeks in
an atmosphere of such crime and despair, that these rooms have often
seemed to me the gateway to hell, carry there, even in secrecy, the
effects of that atmosphere? I will cherish your goodness in my heart
but do not ask me to bury that heart in any more exalted spot, than
some humble country home, where my life may be spent in good deeds and
my love in prayers for the man I hold dear, and because I hold dear,
leave to his own high path among the straight and unshadowed courses
of the world."
And with a gesture that inexorably shut him off while it expressed the
most touching appeal, she glided by him and took her way to the room
where her father and brother awaited her presence.
Pages:
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208