There was an angry pant in his voice that made the words a demand rather than request.
"Mr. Herriott, I am sorry to refuse any wish of yours; but I cannot."
"I want it."
She looked steadily at him.
"So do I. When I die it will be where you placed it; but in the coffin human covenants end, and I will order it sent to you by those who lay me in the grave. My ring is the badge of my loyalty—not yours. You are as free as you wish to be, but when I meet my God He will know I kept my marriage vows—always."
"And the supreme vow was to love me!"
From the fury in his eyes she did not flinch.
"Yes, I intended to keep all. I thought I might learn to love you; and that you would be patient with me. I wanted to love you, and, as God hears me, I meant to spend my life trying to love you."
Unable to restrain words he was unwilling to utter, he sprang up and took refuge on the front platform.
A prolonged whistle of the engine announced the next stop, and the baby awoke with a startled cry, just as his father entered, followed by the nurse, a middle-aged woman who looked too ill to stand. Eglah rose and laid the child in her arms.