She thought for a moment with that complete detachment of judgment from emotion which is so rarely a part of a woman's intellect.
"No, no," she said; "it is right that you should take it down. I would not have you submit to any further injustice, not even a little one like that."
"And this will go on forever! Oh, Maria, how will it end?"
"We must wait and hope, dear; you see that."
"I see nothing but that I love you and am most miserable," he answered desperately.
A smile curved her lips. "Oh, blind and faithless, I see only you!"
He was still holding her hands, but, dropping them as she spoke, he threw his arms wide open and stood waiting.
"Then come to me, my dearest; come to me."
His voice rang out in command rather than entreaty, and he stood smiling gravely as, hesitating a breathless instant, she regarded him with eyes that struggled to be calm. Then slowly the radiance which was less the warmth of colour than of expression flooded her face, and she bent toward him as if impelled by some strong outside force. The next moment the storm swept her roughly from her feet and crushed back her pleading hands upon her bosom; bewildered, flushed, and trembling, she lay upon his breast while their lips clung together. "Oh, my friend, my lover," she murmured faintly.
He felt her resistance dissolve within his arms, and it was a part of the tragedy of their love that there should come to him no surprise when he found her mouth salt from her tears. The shadow of a great evil, of a secret anguish, still divided them, and it was this that gave to their embraces the sorrowful passion which he drew from her despairing kiss.