In the meantime the woman had still been stretching out her trembling arms to him, crying his name again and again; as she sank back exhausted the man started up and rushed toward her, clutching her by the hand, and exclaiming frantically, “Mary, Mary, it is I--speak to me!” But the other's delirium seemed to have returned, and she only stared at him blankly. At last David staggered to his feet and began pacing wildly up and down, hiding his face in his hands, and crying helplessly, “Oh, God, that this should come to me now! Oh, how can I bear it--oh, Mary, Mary!” He sank down upon the sofa again and burst into fearful sobbing; Helen, who had still been kneeling where he left her, rushed toward him and flung her arms about him, crying out, “David, David, what is the matter? David, you will kill me; what is it?” And he started and stared at her wildly, clutching her arm. “Helen,” he gasped, “listen to me! I ruined that woman! Do you hear me?--do you hear me? It was I who betrayed her--I who made her what she is! _I--I!_ Oh, leave me,--leave me alone--oh, what can I do?” Then as the girl still clung to him, sobbing his name in terror, the man went on, half beside himself with his grief, “Oh, think of it--oh, how can I bear to know it and live? Twenty-three years ago,--and it comes back to curse me now! And all these years I have been living and forgetting it--and been happy, and talking of my goodness--oh God, and this fearful madness upon the earth! And I made it--I--and _she_ has had to pay for it! Oh, look at her, Helen, look at her--think that that foulness is mine! She was beautiful,--she was pure,--and she might have been happy, she would have been good, but for me! Oh God in heaven, where can I hide myself, what can I do?” Helen was still clutching at his arm, crying to him, “David, spare me!” He flung her off in a mad frenzy, holding her at arm's length, and staring at her with a fearful light in his eyes. “Girl, girl!” he cried, “do you know who I am--do you know what I have done? This girl was like you once, and I made her love me--made her love me with the sacred fire that God had given me, made her love me as I made _you_ love me! And she was beautiful like you--she was younger than you, and as happy as you! And she trusted me as you trusted me, she gave herself to me as you did, and I took her, and promised her my love--and now look at her! Can you wish to be near me, can you wish to see me? Oh, Helen, I cannot bear myself--oh, leave me, I must die!”