“Oh, Le, Le! No, no, no! I am no longer your own! No longer your Odalite,” she exclaimed, struggling out of his embrace, and bursting into a tempest of tears and sobs.
“Not my Odalite! Nonsense, dearest dear! Not my own Odalite? Whose else should you be, I wonder? Why, you have been my own Odalite all your little life. What can be the matter with you? I know now! I have read and heard about hysterics in young girls, and that is what has come over you, darling! I took you too much by surprise! You fainted, and now you are hysterical! What can I do for you, Odalite? I wish I knew just what to do! Do you know? No! you shake your head. Well! let us go back to the house! We had certainly better do that!” said the youth, rising and offering his arm.
“No! no, Le! not to the house! It is here that I must tell you! here by the sea! Yes! it is a fitting place for such a confession! here by the treacherous sea!” she said, trying to suppress the sobs that still shook her bosom.
CHAPTER XIV
TOLD BY THE WINTRY SEA
The young man said no more, but simply stood before her and waited in wonder for her words.
“I am not hysterical, Le! I am not hysterical; but I am false—faithless! Despise and forget me, Le! for I am not worthy of your remembrance. I am false and faithless!”
“No, no! Odalite, it cannot be true!” cried the young man, in a sharp tone of anguish.
“Yes, yes! it is true! it is true! it is shameful, but it is true!” exclaimed the desperate girl.