'Everything worth while is won by sacrifice.' 'There comes a time, at least once in every man's life, when he must make one big concrete sacrifice.'
This was the time for him. It had him now!
She read the agony in his face.
"Hector," she begged, terrified. "What is it? What is it?"
He told her—not of the assassin—what was the use?—but of what was before him. And she guessed the rest.
"Is there danger?" she said. Then, "Oh, I know there's danger! Hector, Hector—don't go—my dear—it's too much—after all these years of loneliness—I don't want——"
He took her hands, holding them strongly.
"Frances," he told her, "this is—terrible—to me. Don't make it any harder than it already is."
She clung to him. He took her in his arms. So these two held to each other, the wreckage of their hopes around them, in their great agony....
Northcote knocked softly at the door.