“At least I am bound to him until he releases me.”
“Ah!” responded Wyllard, “that is what I was most afraid of. All along it hampered me, and in it you have the reason for my cold, business-like talk to-day. It is another reason why I should go away.”
“For fear that you should tempt me from my duty?”
Wyllard’s expression changed, and there crept into his eyes a gleam of the passion that he was smothering.
“My dear,” he said, “I seem to know that I could make you break faith with that man. You belong to me. For three years you have been everywhere with me. Now I must go away and Gregory will have a clear field, but the probability is in favor of my coming back again, and then, if he has failed to make the most of his chance, I’ll enforce my claim.”
He seized both her hands, holding them firmly.
“That is my last word. At least, you will let me think that when I go up yonder into the mists and snow I shall take your good wishes for my success away with me.”
She lifted her flushed face, and once looked him steadily in the eyes.
“My good wishes are yours, most fervently,” she replied. “It would be intolerable that you should fail.”
He looked sad as he let her hands fall. “After all,” he said, “one can do only what one can.”