He stooped and raised her up, and set her on the bench again, laying her head upon his shoulder, and supporting her form with his arm around her waist.
She made no resistance, but continued to weep convulsively.
As soon as he was able to command himself he spoke to her in a quiet tone.
“Odalite, why do you cry so hard? If you are going to marry this man to please yourself you should be happy, in spite of anything that I should say about it. Now, why do you grieve so much?”
“Oh! I have been so faithless to you, Le! I have been—so base to you! Oh! I wish I were dead! I wish I had died before I betrayed your trust in me, Le!”
These words came in spasmodic gasps and sighs from the white and quivering lips.
He looked at her searchingly, incisively; he could not understand her.
“Odalite,” he said, suddenly, “I am full of doubt. I ask you again, and I charge you in the name of all that is pure and holy, to answer me truly: Was it of your own free will that you engaged yourself to Col. Anglesea?”
“Yes, yes! I repeat it: No one forced me, no one persuaded me. My father and my mother let me do just as I pleased,” she sobbed.
“And yet, though you say this, you seem so miserable over it all! I cannot comprehend it!” muttered Leonidas Force, carrying his hand to his forehead and trying to reflect on the situation. “But—yes—I think I do now,” he said, suddenly, as a light seemed to break on his mind.