‘Then take my word when I tell you that you shall not repent. Let me call you my wife. Give me the duties of your husband; I ask for no privileges. I will wait–wait twenty years, and never repent. Neither shall you.’
‘But you know–you must know–I do not love you. I am not sure that I do not love him, even yet–may God help me!’
‘Yes, I can understand it all. But decide, Sara, now–at once. Once again I give you the alternative; it depends on you whether I go or stay.’
This was intimidation, and he knew it. He used it because he had a great end in view, and he saw no other way of gaining it.
‘Speak!’ he added. ‘Do you consent?’
A long pause, till she answered coldly, and turning, if possible, a shade paler than before:
‘Yes.’
‘I thank you from my very soul,’ he answered, kissing first one and then the other of the cold nerveless hands he held. ‘And now I will leave you. You would prefer to be alone, I know. Good-night! Remember, all I am and have are at your service.’
She made no answer, and the deathly hue of her face never changed or altered. She did not reply to his good-night, nor take any notice of him, as he went out of the room. He found Ellen, and sent her into the room, saying:
‘I think your mistress will be ill. If she is, send for me. She will quite approve of it.’