"
"Edith," and rising to his feet Arthur stood with folded arms,
gazing pityingly upon her, himself now the stronger of the two.
"Edith, you, of all others, must not tempt me to fall. You surely
will counsel me to do right! Help me! oh, help me! I am so weak,
and I feel my good resolutions all giving way at sight of your
distress! If it will take one iota from your pain to know that
Nina shall never be my acknowledged wife, save as she is now, I
will swear to you that, were her reason ten times restored, she
shall not; But, Edith, don't, don't make me swear it. I am lost,
lost if you do. Help me to do right, won't you, Edith?"
He knelt beside her again, pleading with her not to tempt him from
the path in which he was beginning to walk; and Edith, as she
listened, felt the last link, which bound her to him, snapping
asunder. For a moment she HAD wavered; had shrank from the thought
that any other could ever stand to him in the relation she once
had hoped to stand; but that weakness was over, and while chiding
herself for it, she hastened to make amends.
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