“There is the lady, too,--the lady who left us here together! We must not forget to think of her,--of her whose picture you showed me at Fair View, who was to be your wife, who took me by the hand that night at the Palace. There is reproach in her eyes. Ah, do you not think the look might grow, might come to haunt us? And yourself! Oh, sooner or later regret and weariness would come to dwell at Fair View! The lady who walks in the garden here is a fine lady and a fit mate for a fine gentleman, and I am a beggar maid and no man’s mate, unless it be Hugon’s. Hugon, who has sworn to have me in the house he has built! Hugon, who would surely kill you”-- Haward caught her by the wrists, bruising them in his grasp. “Audrey, Audrey! Let these fancies be! If we love each other”-- “If!” she echoed, and pulled her hands away. Her voice was strange, her eyes were bright and strained, her face was burning. “But if not, what then? And how should I love you who are a stranger to me? Oh, a generous stranger who, where he thinks he has done a wrong, would repair the damage.” Her voice broke; she flung back her head and pressed her hands against her throat. “You have done me no wrong,” she said. “If you had, I would forgive you, would say good-by to you, would go my way.... as I am going now. Let me pass, sir!” Haward barred her way. “A stranger!” he said, beneath his breath. “Is there then no tie between shadow and substance, dream and reality?” “None!” answered Audrey, with defiance. “Why did you come to the mountains, eleven years ago? What business was it of yours whether I lived or died? Oh, God was not kind to send you there!” “You loved me once!” he cried. “Audrey, Audrey, have I slain your love?” “It was never yours!” she answered passionately, “It was that other’s,--that other whom I imagined, who never lived outside my dream! Oh, let me pass, let me begone! You are cruel to keep me. I--I am so tired.” White to the lips, Haward moved backward a step or two, but yet stood between her and the door. Moments passed before he spoke; then, “Will you become my wife?” he asked, in a studiously quiet voice. “Marry me, Audrey, loving me not. Love may come in time, but give me now the right to be your protector, the power to clear your name.”