The color swept into her face, for she felt compelled to speak the naked truth.
"I can't go so far as that," she said in a low voice. "I should feel regret."
"Then the rest will follow! Why do you hesitate?"
She smiled, for the matter was too serious for trivial embarrassment, and she knew the man would force her to deal frankly with plain issues.
"You seem so sure?"
"I am, of myself."
"The difficulty is that I'm not an isolated individual, but a member of a family, and belong to a race that has its code of rules. I must think of the shock to my parents and my friends; all the pain that any rash act of mine might give to others. They may be wrong, but what they think I feel, in a half-instinctive way, that reasoning can't change. I should have to stand upon defense against my subconscious self."
"I know," he said gently. "But the choice is one that many have to make. One must often stand alone. It's true that I have all to gain and you all to risk; but, Beatrice——"
He broke off, and held out both hands appealingly to her.
"Beatrice!"