"You must!" he said dolefully. "What a parting, Pat! Never to see you again, and then having this to remember as farewell!"
"I know, Nick. You see, I love you too." She turned her dark, troubled eyes on him. "Honey, kiss me good-bye! We'll have that to remember, anyway!" Tears were again on her cheeks.
"Do I dare?" he asked despondently. "After the things these lips of mine have said, and what these arms have done to you?"
"But you didn't, Nick! Could I blame you for—that other?"
"God! You're kind, Pat! Honey, if ever I win out in this battle, if ever I know I'm the final victor, I'll—No," he said his tones dropping abruptly. "I'll never come back to you, Pat. It's far too dangerous, and—can I ever be certain? Can I?"
"I don't know, Nick. Can you?"
"I can't be, Pat! I'll never be sure that he isn't just dormant, as he was before, waiting for my weakness to betray me! I'll never be certain, Honey! It has to be good-bye!"
"Then kiss me!"
She clung to him; the room that had been so recently a chamber of horrors was transformed. As she held him, as her lips were pressed to his, she thought suddenly of the words of the demon, that Heaven and Hell were always the same place. They had taken on a new meaning, those words; she drew away from Nick and turned her tear-bright eyes tenderly on his.
"Honey," she murmured, "I don't want you to leave me. I don't want you to go!"