“But can’t I help without marrying anybody?” said Kate.
“How can you?” he said simply.
And she knew it was true.
“But you see,” she said, “I have no impulse to marry you, so how can I?”
“Why?” he said.
“You see, Mexico is really a bit horrible to me. And the black eyes of the people really make my heart contract, and my flesh shrink. There’s a bit of horror in it. And I don’t want horror in my soul.”
He was silent and unfathomable. She did not know in the least what he was thinking, only a black cloud seemed over him.
“Why not?” he said at last. “Horror is real. Why not a bit of horror, as you say, among all the rest?”
He gazed at her with complete, glittering earnestness, something heavy upon her.
“But——” she stammered in amazement.