"I understand," she said bitterly, even as she had said once before, all the old resentful indignation rising up within her. "I understand, Sir Karl. There are complications, entanglements; and you cannot free yourself from them."
"Precisely so."
" Is the sin of the past?" she asked with flashing eyes and a rising colour; her voice betraying her frame of mind. He gazed at her, unable to understand.
"Why of course it is past, Lucy. What can you mean?"
"Oh, you know, you know. Never mind. We must go on again as we have been going on."
"No, Lucy."
"YES, Sir Karl. As long as those people remain in the Maze, tacitly to insult me, I will never be more to you than I am now."
It was a strangely harsh decision; and one he could not account for. He asked for her reasons in detail, but she would not give any. All she said further was, that if he felt dissatisfied, she could--and should--seek the protection of her father and declare the truth.
So they parted again as they had parted before. Hemmed in on all sides, afraid to move an inch to the left or the right, Karl could only submit; he could do nothing.
"I was charged by Miss Blake to tell you that tea is ready," he said, turning on his heel to quit the room.