“Don’t look at me then,” she pleaded. “Bend your head, bend it lower. One second, then I will. One second—one. Ah, God! I cannot.”
Verplank, who at her bidding had stooped, straightened himself, and caught at her.
“I say you shall.”
“Gulian, a moment. Give me a moment. Now bend your head again. One moment, Gulian; your father, your father—— My mother loved him.”
“Your mother loved my father!”
“Gulian, I am his daughter.”
“You are what?”
“I am your sister.”
As she whispered it, she covered her face. Verplank started, straightened again, raised his arm, and, with a gesture wide, elemental, absurd, and human, struck at the empty air.