"You don't want me to go back home with the child, do you?" Cleo asked with a furtive glance.
"No, I do not," he replied, emphatically.
"I'm going back—but I'll give her up and let you educate her in a convent on one condition——"
"What?" he asked sharply.
"That you let me nurse the boy again and give me the protection and shelter of your home——"
"Never!" he cried.
"Please be reasonable. It will be best for you and best for me and best for her that her life shall never be blackened by the stain of my blood. I've thought it all out. It's the only way——"
"No," he replied sternly. "I'll educate her in my own way, if placed in my hands without condition. But you shall never enter my house again——"
"Is it fair," she pleaded, "to take everything from me and turn me out in the world alone? I'll give your boy all the love of a hungry heart. He loves me."
"He has forgotten your existence——"