"Nothing can make it right."
"Why talk of that? It is my sin and my concern."
"You destroy all my esteem for you."
"I ask for love, not for esteem. Esteem between you and me! I love you more than all the world."
"Ah! don't say that!"
"Yes, more than my soul. And you talk of esteem! Ah! you don't know what a man's love is."
"I never thought of you as making love."
"I think now of nothing else. Why should I trouble you with my struggles? Now I am free to love—and you, Claudia, are free to return my love."
"Did you think I was in love with you?"
"Yes," said Stafford. "But you knew my promise, and did not let yourself see your own feelings. Ah, Claudia! if it is only the promise!"