"I didn't know you depended so on me. But it's all right; I won't leave you, ever. It's all right. There, dear, I understand."
She struggled free from his hold, and dried her eyes with a sudden passionate gesture of scattering tears.
"You shall go," she said fiercely. "I hate myself for acting this way.
It was only because——" She could get no further.
He did not attempt to touch her again. They stood facing one another, measuring their love.
"I might go," he said at last, as if to himself; "but in going I should spoil something very precious. You deny it now, but you would remember your own sacrifice. And then, of course, you would go back to your work. I should want you to. But it would never be the same again, never."
"I won't go back."
He shook his head.
"If you didn't, you would never forgive me. Every day you spent here alone and idle would break one of those fragile bonds that hold us so closely. If only you hadn't given up South America!"
"I was wrong," she said drearily.
At last he held out his arms.