“I couldn’t tell you,” he muttered... “I loved you. I dared not risk losing you,—and I believed you would never know.”
“It’s—bigamy,” she said, and caught her breath again sharply.
“Yes.”
His voice was sullen.
“But that’s punishable,” Pamela said, and scrutinised him with wide, distressed eyes... “Isn’t it?”
“Yes.”
He made a sudden movement. Before she could stay him he was on his knees beside her, with his arms about her, holding her closely.
“I wanted you so badly,” he said. “It was the only way. Oh! Pamela, believe me, I never meant to hurt you... I never meant you to know. My dear—Oh! my dear, don’t turn from me. Forget that you’ve read that letter,—forget that you ever received it. Let things be as they were before.”
“But they can’t be,” she insisted. “I’m not—”
She broke off and stared at him, frightened and dismayed.