"Because I have received a summons which takes me away from you for a time—upon a perilous journey, perhaps."
"Where? Why?"
She was breathless, and returned the pressure of his hands with a strength of which she was unaware.
"To Mexico. My whole fortune is involved, and it is necessary that I should go."
She leaned toward him eagerly.
"Don't!" she whispered, hoarsely. "Something tells me that you will not return. I have a presentiment of evil—a horrible presentiment! It is the curse in reality. Don't go, Olney. My fortune will be enough for both."
But he had recovered himself, and smiled reassuringly, though feebly.
"We are foolish, my darling, both of us. I could not be a dependent upon the bounty of my wife. You must understand that, love. However much one we may be, I could never consent to feel myself a burden. Don't ask it of me, dearest. It would only make the temporary parting all the harder to bear, and you must have strength to bolster up my weakness."
"Oh, Olney!"
"If you had never heard of that foolish curse, you would think nothing of it; and if I had not been ill and weak mentally as well as physically, it would not have impressed me in the least. Remember that you yourself called it an absurdity."