'I am such a poor thing!' Lucy moaned, wringing her hands. 'I should never be able to influence him. Oh, you don't know how weak I am!'
Eric smiled sadly, and sighed. He knew exactly how weak she was; he would not have had a woman stronger.
'I am not like Pamela,' Lucy went on, with her little feeble moan.
'No,' he interrupted her hastily, 'thank God! You are not like Pamela.'
Lucy looked at him with wonder, through her tears, not unmixed with reproof.
'If I were Pamela,' she said, with some dignity—'if I had a great soul, and were made on larger lines, like Pamela, I should give you a different answer.'
'I must tell you,' he said hastily, interrupting her—'I must tell you, before you give your answer—your final answer—that Edgell releases you from your engagement; that he reproaches himself for having ever asked you to risk your happiness in his keeping. He begs me to say that if you have any fears or misgivings, if you have no confidence in his resolution—if you doubt him or yourself—it would be better for you to give him up.'
Lucy sighed.
'But if you can be so generous as to give him another chance, he will never, never, God helping him, betray your trust!'