Rachel writhed on the lounge, hiding her face yet more. "He thinks I'm like that!" she shuddered. "I'm so ashamed, I—I can't stand it!"
"Oh, Rachel, Rachel, you won't betray me, you can't, now!"
Her sister sat up suddenly, her face one blur of tears and blushes. "Eva, you've no right to make me so ashamed; I can't forgive it!"
The sinner sobbed bitterly. "Rachel, he'll kill him!"
"I—I almost wish he would!"
Eva wept hysterically. "It will kill me, too, that's all; but I don't suppose you care!"
Rachel looked at her, and gradually her senses cleared, her overwhelming feeling of shame passed into even deeper suffering; she saw the old relations of life take flesh again, the old need to save her sister, and she shivered.
"If you go back on it now," sobbed Eva, "he'll say I'm a liar and he'll cast me off; he'll disgrace me so I can never hold up my head again!"
Poor Rachel was silent.
"Oh, Rachel, I'm so wretched!"