"I cannot leave you," she said, "I cannot give you up!"
Again he was bound in her chains. Her feverish hands held his, her
burning eyes drank up the dew in his own, her pathetic presence
thrilled him with a sense of love stronger than any he had dreamed of
or imagined. Neglect, cruelty, bitterness, scorn! What did the words
mean? Like poisonous weeds they had grown fast and rank before his
eyes, but in the burning face of this all-conquering love they had
shrunk, withered and dead to the earth. Yes, it was the vile earth
from which they had sprung, and it was in the radiant heavens that
this great love was shining. Wanda's victory was nearly complete. The
only thing lacking to make it so was that she should renounce it
altogether. And this she did--not with conscious art but by that sure
instinct of womanliness which teaches that a man won by other than
indirect methods is not won at all. Then she said, pushing him gently
aside, "I will go away now, and never see you again, because I am a
burden to you. No," for he had put his hand upon her wrist, "you must
not touch me, because--" the words choked her for a moment, and then
they fell from her lips with a sound of fathomless despair--"it is as
though you were my little child that I was forced to leave forever.
Pages:
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322
323
324
325
326
327
328
329
330
331