“‘I AM COME TO MAKE CONFESSION AND THEN TO LEAVE YOU’”
“Yes; but do not be afraid. She mentioned no names. Besides, it is no business of mine. I do not know whom she means.”
“I am sorry it is no business of yours,” replied Gerard, coming boldly forward, “for, Ursula, she means yourself.”
“She—she—” stammered Ursula.
“And so do I.” Very quietly he put his arm around her, and drew down the tired head upon his breast. “We have both of us suffered quite enough,” he said.
The tears came swelling across her eyes.
“Through my fault,” she whispered—“my fault.”
“Let me find the criminal’s extenuations, Ursula. Do you really think, you poor, noble creature, that I do not understand?”
“I must confess to my father,” she continued, in the same tremulous whisper. “To my father and the world.”