"I want to take Catherine and go abroad," answered Esther. "If I can get my uncle and aunt to go, we shall start in the spring."
At this announcement Hazard seemed to receive a shock. He turned suddenly to her, his eyes sparkling with passion: "Take me with you! What shall I do without you!" He seized her hand and poured out a torrent of broken protests: "I love you with all my heart and soul! Don't leave me alone in this horrible city! I shall die of disgust if you desert me! You are the only woman I ever loved! Ah! You must love me!"
Esther, trembling, bewildered, carried away by this sudden and violent attack, made at first a feeble effort to withdraw her hand and to gasp a protest, but the traitor within her own breast was worse than the enemy without. For the moment all her wise resolutions were swept away in a wave of tenderness; she seemed to come suddenly on a summer sea, sparkling with hope and sunshine, the dreary sand-banks of her old life vanishing like a dream. She shut her eyes and found herself in his arms. Then in terror at what she had done, she tried again to draw back.
"No, no!" she said rapidly, trying to free herself. "You must not love me! You must let me go!"
"I love you! I adore you! I will never let you go!"
"You must! You do not know what you are doing! Ah! Let me go!"
"Tell me first that you love me!"
"No, no! I am not good enough for you. You must love some one who has her heart in your work."
"Tell me that you love me!" repeated Hazard.
"You do not know me! You must not love me! I shall ruin your life! I shall never satisfy you!"