Thusis turned sharply on her sister: "Have you given him your heart?"
Clelia answered, her eyes still fixed on Smith:
"I gave it to him from the first—even when I thought him a pious dolt. And was ashamed. And now that I know him for a man I'm not ashamed. Let him know it. I do care for him."
Smith stood rigid. Thusis, looking intently at Clelia, went to her and passed one arm around her waist.
"This can't be," she said. Clelia laughed. "But it is, sister. It isn't orthodox, it isn't credible, it is quite unthinkable that I should care for him. But I do; and I've told him so. Now he can ruin us if he wishes." And she flung a sweet, fearless glance at Smith which made him tremble very slightly.
Thusis turned to me an almost frightened face as though in appeal, then she caught her sister's hands.
"Listen!" she cried, "I also gave my heart as you gave yours, sister! I couldn't help it. I found myself in love—" She looked at me—"I was doomed to love him.
"But for God's sake listen, sister. It is my heart I give. My mind and my destiny remain my own."
"My destiny is in God's hands," said Clelia simply. "My mind and heart I give—" She looked at Smith—"and all else that is myself ... if you want me, Shan."
"You cannot do it!" exclaimed Thusis in a voice strangled with emotion. "You can do it no more than can I! You have no more right than have I to give yourself merely because you care! Your heart—yes! There is no choice when love comes; you can not avoid it. But you can proudly choose what to do about it!"