“No, no.”
“I cannot go to-night. There are matters—affairs that it would be death to me to leave. I tell you, I tell you—my honor is pledged here.”
She held out a rigid arm toward him, her blurred, sightless eyes at gaze.
“Stephen, I warn you—”
“I tell you, you do not understand—”
“Your honor! You weigh your honor against this thing! Stephen, I warn you—”
“For God’s sake, listen: I—”
“No, no. Save the child, I charge you, or before I die I will tell the truth.”
Her hand dropped and then went to her throat, for a spasm of choking seized her, and he could see the muscles straining in her throat and her dry lips praying for air. Stephen Gore thought that death had her that instant, but the strength of her purpose bore her through.
“Stephen, promise me.”