"You know that is impossible;" she said.
"Very well then. I shall remain." His jaw set itself in a fashion that brought it into heavy prominence.
"You will stay all night?" she questioned quickly.
"If necessary," he answered.
Biddy had turned the lamp very low. The faint radiance shone upon him as he sat imparting a certain mysterious force to his dominant outline. He looked as immovable as an image carved in stone.
A great shiver went through Isabel. "You want to see me suffer," she said.
"You are wrong," he returned inflexibly. "But I would sooner see you suffer than give yourself up to a habit which is destroying you by inches. It is no kindness on Scott's part to let you do it."
"Don't talk of Scott!" she said quickly. "No one—no one—will ever know what he is to me—how he has helped me—while you—you have only looked on!"
Her voice quivered. She flung out a restless arm. Instantly, yet without haste, he took and held her hand. His fingers pressed the fevered wrist. He spoke after a moment while he quelled her instinctive effort to free herself. "I am not merely looking on to-night. I am here to help you—if you will accept my help."
"You are here to torture me!" she flung back fiercely. "You are here to force me down into hell, and lock the gates upon me!"