“John, when a good man loves a woman whom he believes to be good, what is due from him to her?”
“Ah! Allison. Let me have a chance to show you! It will take a long life to do it.”
“John, let me speak. Does he not honour her in his heart? And does he not uphold her honour before the world?”
“We would go away together across the sea.”
“Hush! Do not say it. Do not make me sorry that you love me. Do not make me doubt it.”
“Ah! but you cannot doubt it. You will never be able to doubt that I love you. Allison, do you love me, ever so little? I could teach you, dear, to love me.”
He sought to take her hand, but she would not yield it to him.
“And your mother, John?”
“She would forgive us, if it were once done.”
“And my mother, up in heaven? What would she think if she were to know? No, John, it cannot be.”