“Fly with thee!” said Viola, scarce believing her senses.
“With me. Name, fame, honour,—all will be sacrificed if thou dost not.”
“Then—then,” said the wild girl, falteringly, and turning aside her face,—“then I am not indifferent to thee; thou wouldst not give me to another?”
Zanoni was silent; but his breast heaved, his cheeks flushed, his eyes darted dark and impassioned fire.
“Speak!” exclaimed Viola, in jealous suspicion of his silence.
“Indifferent to me! No; but I dare not yet say that I love thee.”
“Then what matters my fate?” said Viola, turning pale, and shrinking from his side; “leave me,—I fear no danger. My life, and therefore my honour, is in mine own hands.”
“Be not so mad,” said Zanoni. “Hark! do you hear the neigh of my steed?—it is an alarm that warns us of the approaching peril. Haste, or you are lost!”
“Why dost thou care for me?” said the girl, bitterly. “Thou hast read my heart; thou knowest that thou art become the lord of my destiny. But to be bound beneath the weight of a cold obligation; to be the beggar on the eyes of indifference; to cast myself on one who loves me not,—THAT were indeed the vilest sin of my sex. Ah, Zanoni, rather let me die!”
She had thrown back her clustering hair from her face while she spoke; and as she now stood, with her arms drooping mournfully, and her hands clasped together with the proud bitterness of her wayward spirit, giving new zest and charm to her singular beauty, it was impossible to conceive a sight more irresistible to the eye and the heart.