"Why did I speak? Why did I kiss your hand as I did? Because at the moment it was the only honest thing to do; because it was due you that I should say: 'Ruth, I love you, love you so much'"—here she nestled close to him—"'so well, that everything else in life is as nothing beside it —nothing! so well that I could not let you share my wretchedness.'"
She ran her hand along his breast and looked up at him with swimming eyes.
"And you think that this is fair to me? that a woman gives the heart for pleasant weather only? I do not know what your sorrow may be, but it is my right to share it. I am only a woman; but a woman can be strong for those she loves. Remember that I have always had to care for others— always; and I can bear much. I will not ask what your trouble is, I only ask you"—here she spoke slowly and earnestly, and rested her hand on his shoulder—"to say to me that you love no other woman; and that—that no other woman has a claim upon you. Then I shall be content to pity you, to help you, to love you. God gives women many pains, but none so great as the love that will not trust utterly; for trust is our bread of life. Yes, indeed, indeed!"
"I dare not say," he said, "that it is your misfortune to love me, for in this you show how noble a woman can be. But I will say that the cup is bitter-sweet for you. . . . I cannot tell you now what my trouble is; but I can say that no other living woman has a claim upon me. . . . My reckoning is with the dead."
"That is with God," she whispered, "and He is just and merciful too. . . . Can it not be repaired here?" She smoothed back his hair, then let her fingers stray lightly on his cheek.
It hurt him like death to reply. "No, but there can be punishment here."
She shuddered slightly. "Punishment, punishment," she repeated fearfully—"what punishment?"
"I do not quite know." Lines of pain grew deeper in his face. . . .
"Ruth, how much can a woman forgive?"
"A mother, everything." But she would say no more. He looked at her long and earnestly, and said at last: "Will you believe in me no matter what happens?"
"Always, always." Her smile was most winning.