"Helena!"
She made a little nervous cry, but stifling it in her throat she turned hotly round on him.
"You told me that love was above everything," she said, "and this is how you love me!"
Torn as he was to his heart's core, outraged as he believed himself to be, he made a feeble effort to excuse himself.
"I couldn't help it, Helena,—it was impossible for me to act otherwise."
"Oh, I know! I know!" she said. "You were doing what you thought to be right. But I am no match for you. You have duties that are higher than your duty to me."
Her tone cut him to the quick, and he tried to speak but could not. Like a drowning man he stretched out his hand to her, but she made no response.
He stretched out his hand to her, but she made no response
"It was not to be, I see that now," she said, while her eyes filled and her bosom heaved. "I am not worthy of you. But I loved you and I thought you loved me, and I believed you when you told me that nothing could come between us."