"Are you going to give me up?" he asked, hoarsely.
"I don't know," she said; "it depends on yourself, on what you are, and what you have been. You say she is not your wife?"
"I swear it."
"You need not do so. Your word is enough."
"I swear she is not my wife."
"One question remains," said Ruth, firmly, a flame of color mounting to her neck and face. "You say she is not your wife. Ought you to make her so?"
"No," said Dare, passionately; "I owe her nothing. She has no claim upon me. I swear—"
"Don't swear. I said your word was enough."
But Dare preferred to embellish his speech with divers weighty expressions, feeling that a simple affirmation would never carry so much conviction to his own mind, or, consequently, to another, as an oath.
A momentary silence followed.