She threw her arms round my neck, and held me to her with all her strength. The moment after, she dropped on her knees. “Oh, don’t tempt me!” she murmured. “Be merciful—and leave me.”
I was beside myself. I spoke as recklessly to her as she had spoken to me.
“Prove that you love me,” I said. “Let me rescue you from the degradation of living with that man. Leave him at once and forever. Leave him, and come with me to a future that is worthy of you—your future as my wife.”
“Never!” she answered, crouching low at my feet.
“Why not? What obstacle is there?”
“I can’t tell you—I daren’t tell you.”
“Will you write it?”
“No, I can’t even write it—to you. Go, I implore you, before Van Brandt comes back. Go, if you love me and pity me.”
She had roused my jealousy. I positively refused to leave her.
“I insist on knowing what binds you to that man,” I said. “Let him come back! If you won’t answer my question, I will put it to him.”