Beth Norvell

"Is it indeed true," she asked, her voice thrilling with suppressed

feeling, "that you possess a warrant sworn out by Biff Farnham,

charging Mr. Winston with the abduction of his wife?"

"Yes, ma'am," and the man changed the weight of his body to the other

foot. "I 'm sorry ter say it 's true."

She lifted one hand suddenly to her forehead as though in pain.

"And you intend to serve it?"

"I have no choice, ma'am; I 'm an officer of the law."

There followed a pause, seemingly endless, the eyes of the men turned

away. She lifted her head, sweeping her gaze swiftly across the faces,

and a flush crept into the white cheeks.

"Gentlemen," her voice low and clear, but with a slight falter

occasionally yielding peculiar power to the words, "it is true I am

that man's wife." She looked directly at him, apparently oblivious of

his attempt at smiling indifference. "By the laws of God and men I am

his wife. I neither deny this, nor have ever sought to escape from its

obligations. To me, the vows of marriage were sacred when first

assumed; they remain no less sacred now. This man is fully aware of

how I feel in this regard; he knows I have proved true in spirit and

letter to my vows; he knows exactly why I am not living with him; why I

am earning my own living in the world; why I am here in this position

to-day. He knows it all, I say, because the desertion was his, not

mine; and his present deliberate, cowardly attempt to besmirch my

character by doing an injury to another is an unbearable insult, an

outrage more serious than if he had struck me a physical blow. The one

I might forgive, as I have before forgiven, but the other is beyond the

limits of pardon, if I would retain my own self-respect. I am a woman,

an honorable woman, and my reputation is more to me than life."

She paused, breathing heavily, her head flung back, Her hands clenched

as though in desperate effort at self-control.

"You--you!" the words seemed fairly forced from between her lips,

"there has never been a time when I would not have gone to you at a

word, at your slightest expressed desire. However I may have despised

you in my secret heart, I remained loyal outwardly, and would have gone

to you in response to the call of duty. There is no such duty now.

You have openly insulted and degraded me; you have accused me before

the world; you have dragged my name in the muck; you have attempted to

dethrone my womanhood. The past is over; it is over forever. The law

may continue to hold me as your wife, but I am not your wife. The

records of the church may so name me, but they are false. A God of

love could never have linked me to such a brute--the very thought is

infamy. Do not touch me! Do not speak to me! I believe I could kill

you easier than I could ever again yield to you so much as a word."