"Where is his proof?"
"Proof will be forthcoming when necessary."
"Not to prove that I am Bathsheba Saul. I know nothing of the name."
Cuthbert shrugged his shoulders. He had said what was necessary and, unwilling to speak further, prepared to go. Maraquito saw him slipping from her grasp. Once gone, she knew he would never come back. With a cry of despair she stretched out her hands. "Cuthbert, do not leave me!" she cried in anguish.
"I must leave you. I was foolish to come. But you know now, that if you move in this matter I can move too. I doubt very much, madam, if your past life will bear looking into."
"You coward!" she moaned.
"I know I am a coward," said Mallow uncomfortably; "it is not my way to threaten a woman—I said that before. But I love Juliet so much that at any cost I must protect her."
"And my love counts for nothing."
"I am sorry, Maraquito, but I cannot respond. A man's heart is not his own to give."
"Nor a woman's," she moaned bitterly; "oh, heaven, how I suffer. Help!"