"You continue to be mine."
"No," she replied clearly; "I do not continue to be yours."
"Do you take back your word?" he cried, amazed.
"It is you who will give me back yours," she said quietly.
"I? I?"
"You, dear. Because you are a man of honour, for no other reason, because you are a gentleman you will break off of your own accord our engagement, and we shall not marry."
Mabel spoke simply and firmly, without emotion. Moreover, her face had a seriousness and a gravity that he had never seen.
"Shall we not marry?" he exclaimed.
"No, Vittorio. We ought not to marry."
"Because of the calumnies and defamations, Mabel?"