But before she had time to speak, he said quickly,
"Wait! I've no right to ask that question, and I will not hear you answer it."
"You are very noble, Jason," she said.
"I was thinking of myself," he said.
"Jason," she cried, "I meant to ask you to release me, but you have put me to shame and now I ask you to choose for me. I have promised myself to you, and if you wish it I will keep my promise."
At that he stood, a sorrowful man, beside her for a moment's space before he answered her, and only the tones of his voice could tell how much his answer cost him.
"No—ah, no," he said; "no, Greeba, to keep your promise to me would be too cruel to you."
"Think of yourself now," she cried.
"There's no need to do that," he said, "for either way I am a broken man. But you shall not also be broken-hearted, and neither shall the man who parts us."
Saying this, a ghastly white hand seemed to sweep across his face, but at the next moment he smiled feebly and said, "God bless you both."