A brief silence followed. The woman—the girl, rather, for she was scarcely more than sixteen—contracted the arch of her perfect brow.
"I do not understand the reason for the deception, René. Why should you be ashamed of loving me?"
He seemed at a loss for an answer and then with an effort, said:
"Amélie, my own, I have taken this journey for the sole purpose of giving you the reason. It is eight months since we were separated, and during that time I have written you seldom because you warned me that letters directed to your family either arrive unsealed or else fail to arrive. Besides, Amélie, there is something I ought to say to you, but I—give me both your adored hands, for only so can I speak. Courage, courage, Amélie. Trust me; I shall be constant. Oh, my love," he suddenly broke off, "do not ask me to speak, but believe that whatever I should now attempt toward the realization of our union would fail utterly—"
"Would fail utterly," she repeated scornfully. "You, a man, speak such words! What, then, did your vows signify?"
Her beautiful face gleamed like a cameo against the darkness.
"In God's name, Amélie, listen and be not so harsh. I came from France to ask you to believe in me and not force me to speak. May I not be silent for the present?"
"No. I demand the truth, be that what it may."
René's attitude revealed the struggle through which he was passing, and when his words came, it was as if they were hammered out of him.
"Amélie, since we were together at the mill of Adhemar, I have thought only of you. I had been a madcap; I became serious and high-minded. I had cared only for Parisian follies and wild hunts in the forests; these I renounced, for they ceased to charm me. My mother had arranged for me a brilliant marriage. You know of Germaine de Marigny whose lineage includes crusader knights. Well, I broke the troth, regardless of consequences. I asked you not whence you came nor whither you went. You had said that your father was a mechanic in London and that your life had been passed almost in indigence. When I thought of my rank and estates, 'twas to reflect with pride that I should surround my wife with every luxury. I knew that my mother would execrate and my uncle disinherit me. Nevertheless, I was determined to overleap all barriers and disregard almost everything that claimed my allegiance."