“You can go,” was the answer.
“But not without you.”
“Yes, without me. I am not going home. I am never going home any more. I have no home. Oh! mother, mother!”
The last words were uttered in a low, sobbing voice.
“Come, come, you must not speak like that. You must go home. What would your poor aunt say if you did anything so foolish?”
“Oh, what would she say if she knew how I have disgraced her and myself? No, I cannot go home any more.”
“But you cannot stay here all night,” said the vicar, with a chill, sinking tremor at the heart.
She gave no answer.
“Edith, my dear girl, for God’s sake do not say you are thinking of doing anything rash!”
“What else can I do? What else am I fit for but disgrace and a miserable end? Oh, Mr. Santley, you swore to me that before God I was your true wife. I believed you then. I did not think you were only acting in a moment of passion. But now I see that it was a dreadful sin. I was not your wife; and oh! what have you made me instead?”