“And with you I shall,” he said.
“No,” she answered; “what you win by a crime will never do you good.”
“A crime! ’Tis no crime. You know I mean honourable marriage. You owe no duty to any one.”
“It is a crime to leave the innocent to undeserved death,” she said.
“Do you love the fellow?” he cried, with a voice rising to a shout of rage.
“Yes,” she said firmly.
“Why did not you say so before?”
“Because I hoped to see you act for right and justice sake,” was Anne’s answer, fixing her eyes on him. “For God’s sake, not mine.”
“Yours indeed! Think, what can be his love to mine? He who let them marry him to that child, while I struggled and gave up everything. Then he runs away—runs away—leaving you all the distress; never came near you all these years. Oh yes! he looks down on you as his child’s governess! What’s the use of loving him? There’s another heiress bespoken for him no doubt.”
“No. His parents consent, and we have known one another’s love for six years.”