She met his eyes bravely; she tried to speak but it was too much.
John caught her in his arms. "You do love me still?" he cried passionately.
"With all my heart!" she said, for one blind moment swept away, and, yielding to her own grief and his rebellion, she clung to him. Then she recalled herself, her heart struggled back to meet fate again. "John, we must part now—I'd hoped to keep your friendship, but we've lost even that—there was, after all, no middle course."
"Do you think I'll give you up now? This marriage is a mockery; it's got to be annulled."
She looked up at him, struggling to be calm. "John, I've always believed in you, I've always trusted you; I trust you now to help me to do right. I'm weak; I'm broken down; you know it, you've felt it—help me to be myself!"
"I can't, and it isn't right, it's an outrage; who ever heard of such a thing? Eva has no right to your life, Belhaven has no right to you—you're mine!"
"I'm not yours while I'm his wife," she said steadily, and she slipped out of his arms and stood trembling.
"His wife!" John laughed bitterly. "You're not, you can't remain his wife, loving me. I can't think that of you, Rachel!"
"Don't think it. I couldn't."
"And you call it right to keep up this sham? It's a lie, Rachel, a living lie!"