"Cannot? In God's name, why?"

She choked, yet the voice did not wholly fail her.

"Because I have no right. I--I am the wife of another."

The head drooped lower, the hair shadowing the face, and Winston, his

lips set and white, stared at her, scarcely comprehending. A moment

later he sprang to his feet, one hand pressed across his eyes, slowly

grasping the full measure of her confession.

"The wife of another!" he burst forth, his voice shaking. "Great God!

You? What other? Farnham?"

The bowed head sank yet lower, as though in mute answer, and his ears

caught the echo of a single muffled sob. Suddenly she glanced up at

him, and then rose unsteadily to her feet clinging to the back of the

chair for support.

"Mr. Winston," her voice strengthening with each word spoken, "it hurts

me to realize that you feel so deeply. I--I wish I might bear the

burden of this mistake all alone. But I cannot stand your contempt, or

have you believe me wholly heartless, altogether unworthy. We--we must

part, now and forever; there is no other honorable way. I tried so

hard to compel you to leave me before; I accepted that engagement at

the Gayety, trusting such an act would disgust you with me. I am not

to blame for this; truly, I am not--no woman could have fought against

Fate more faithfully; only--only I couldn't find sufficient courage to

confess to you the whole truth. Perhaps I might have done so at first;

but it was too late before I learned the necessity, and then my heart

failed me. There was another reason I need not mention now, why I

hesitated, why such a course became doubly hard. But I am going to

tell you it all now, for--for I wish you to go away at least respecting

my womanhood."

He made no reply, no comment, and the girl dropped her questioning eyes

to the floor.

"You asked me if I had ever loved him," she continued, speaking more

slowly, "and I told you no. That was the truth as I realize it now,

although there was a time when the man fascinated, bewildered me, as I

imagine the snake fascinates a bird. I have learned since something of

what love truly is, and can comprehend that my earlier feeling toward

him was counterfeit, a mere bit of dross. Be patient, please, while I

tell you how it all happened. It--it is a hard task, yet, perhaps, you

may think better of me from a knowledge of the whole truth. I am a

Chicago girl. There are reasons why I shall not mention my family

name, and it is unnecessary; but my parents are wealthy and of good

position. All my earlier education was acquired through private

tutors; so that beyond my little, narrow circle of a world--fashionable

and restricted--all of real life remained unknown, unexplored, until

the necessity for a wider development caused my being sent to a

well-known boarding-school for girls in the East. I think now the

choice made was unfortunate. The school being situated close to a

large city, and the discipline extremely lax, temptation which I was

not in any way fitted to resist surrounded me from the day of entrance.

In a fashionable drawing-room, in the home of my mother's friends, I

first became acquainted with Mr. Farnham."




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