“You are young, Miss Anstrade, and it is not meant that youth should suffer.”
“When do you sail?”
“We sail with you to-morrow.”
“I am not going.”
“What!”
“Yes; I will remain here. There is work in the convent yonder for such as would forget.”
“Good God!” said Webster, staring aghast at the face of the beautiful girl who so calmly talked of throwing her life away.
“You cannot mean it,” said Hume, looking at her steadily. “No; it is impossible. It would be cruel.”
“I astonish you, my friends; and yet, if you consider, it is very reasonable, this step of mine. I have talked with the gentle sisters, and found them steeped in a loving patience that knows no fear of the past and allows no dread of the future. Yet some of them gave up more than I do—brothers, sisters, even lovers.”
“It is horrible! And this island, of all places, with a copper heaven above and an earth of iron below.”