She was standing before him with tears in her eyes which looked just as beautiful as they had looked twenty years ago, and he might have yielded had there been no one but himself to consider. When he remembered Inez he was firm as a rock.
“We will let Fanny decide. I will wait for her,” he said, and turned to leave the room.
Helen called him back. She knew the result if the matter were left to Fanny. Nothing could keep her from Inez.
“Mark,” she said again, going close to him and putting her hand on his arm.
He felt it through his coat sleeve and wanted to take it and wanted to shake it off. He did neither and said to her, “Well, what is it?”
“You are a man of honor,” she replied.
He knew he wasn’t, but rejoined, “Well?”
“And you are a gentleman,” she continued.
Mark thought of the many times she had told him he was not a gentleman, but he merely repeated the word “Well?” while she went on: “If I let Fanny go, promise not to tell her who you are. There’s no knowing what she would do, and I could not bear to have everything come out as it would with Fanny calling you father and all that. I did many wrong things when we lived together, but I never meant half as bad as I talked, and when I thought you were killed in that dreadful way I was very, very sorry. I was going to stop in Montana on my way home to see if I could find any one who knew you. I am telling you this to show you that I am not as bad as you think. Let the past be dead and buried, and don’t let Fanny know. Will you, Mark?”
She had both hands on his arm now and was looking at him with an expression he could not resist.