“I do,” she said after a pause. “I do, because I know what it would mean to me. But you shall not be called to make that sacrifice. I will not marry Colonel Gwyn.”
“Nay—nay—do not speak so definitely,” he said.
“I will speak definitely,” she cried. “Yes, the time is come for me to speak definitely. I might agree to marry Colonel Gwyn in the hope of being happy if I did not love some one else; but loving some one else with all my heart, I dare not—oh! I dare not even entertain the thought of marrying Colonel Gwyn.”
“You love some one else?” he said slowly, wonderingly. For a moment there went through his mind the thought—
“Her heart has led her astray once again.'”
“I love some one else with all my heart and all my strength,” she cried; “I love one who is worthy of all the love of the best that lives in the world. I love one who is cruel enough to wish to turn me away from his heart, though that heart of his has known the secret of mine for long.”
Now he knew what she meant. He put his hands together before her, saying in a hushed voice—
“Ah, child—child—spare me that pain—let me go from you.”
“Not till you hear me,” she said. “Ah! cannot you perceive that I love you—only you, Oliver Goldsmith?”
“Hush—for God's sake!” he cried.