"As God sees me, I did."
"You are in earnest, Sophia?" For an instant he turned his head and looked at her.
"I am."
"Yet--you were for sending her away," he said. "This morning? Before I could return? That I might not see her again."
She looked at him with astonishment, with indignation. "Cannot you understand," she cried, "that that was not on my account, but on hers?"
"It seems to have been rather on my account," he muttered doggedly, his fingers toying with the teaspoon, his eyes on the table. He seemed strangely changed. He did not seem to be himself.
She shuddered. "At any rate, it was not on my account," she said.
"And you are still fixed that she must go?"
"Yes."
"Then I'll tell you what it is," he answered with sudden determination, "I'll take you at your word!" He raised his cup, which was half full, and held it in front of his lips, looking at her across it as he spoke. "You said just now that if there was a way to--to give me the woman I loved--you would take it."