“I cannot swear, Archer. I mean I dare not swear, Archer, even to prove my innocence, and get back your love.”
“And why, pray?” he asked, with a mocking smile.
“Oh, Archer! my Lord and yours has commanded us to ‘Swear not at all.’ I dare not break that command.”
“Tush, girl, you are clumsy. Do you presume to think I can be duped by that affectation of super-righteousness?”
“Oh, Heaven! Oh, Heaven! what shall I do?” said Catherine, in despair.
“Swear, and I will believe you,” he answered, mockingly.
“Oh! why will not my simple word do? Oh! do you think I would tell a falsehood even to save my life?”
“Do I? Does not an astute diplomatist, like you, know that I know a woman who can be false, treacherous, hypocritical;—who, so young, can plot so well, and succeed so entirely;—can also tell a falsehood to conceal her baseness?” he answered, looking down upon her in insufferable scorn.
Then her whole manner changed. She arose to her feet with a certain calm and gentle dignity, and pushing back the veiling tresses from her noble brow, answered nobly—
“Yes, it is true! If I could have conceived such treachery, and written such a letter as that, I could also have lied to conceal it! There is only one on earth that knows my innocence, the writer of that letter. But one in Heaven knows it, and He will make it manifest. I believe in miracles, because I believe in the infinite power and goodness of God, and in the everlasting promises of the Bible.”