“For the last time, Mary, I implore you to speak.” He raised his hand, and his eyes blazed with a light new and strange to her.
“I tell you, there is no need for me to speak, John. This can all be settled in a few hours, when I have denounced father to his face, and compelled him to retract.”
“When you have compelled him to add lie to lie. Mary—wife—I charge you to speak, and save me the necessity of denouncing you.”
“John, you are mad. Trouble has turned your brain. What are you saying?”
“I am no longer your husband. I am your judge.”
“Oh, John, John—give me time—give me a little time. I promise you, I will set everything right in a few hours.”
The rector looked at the clock. “At half-past six, I go to conduct the evening service—my last service in the church. This is the end of my priesthood. I preach my last sermon to-night. Unless you have surrendered yourself to justice before I go into the pulpit for my sermon, I shall make public confession of our sin.”
“John, you no longer love me. You mean to 310 ruin me—you despise me—you want to get rid of me!” cried the wretched woman between her sobs, as she flung herself on her knees at his feet. “John! John! I can’t do it—I can’t!”
“Get away, woman—don’t touch me! You’re a bad woman. You have broken my faith in myself—almost my faith in God. I’ll have nothing further to do with you—or your father—or the money that you say is yours. Money has nothing to do with it. It is a matter of conscience, of courage, of truth! I’ve been a miserable coward, and my son has shamed me into a semblance of a brave man. I am going to do the right thing by the boy.”
“John! John!—you can’t—you won’t! You’ll keep me with you always. I’ll love you—oh—you shall not regret it. You cannot do without me.”