"But I am neither Roman Catholic, nor Unitarian. I wear no label or tag of any sort, thank the pagan gods. And as I do happen to want to marry another woman, I warn you now that if you refuse to get a divorce against me, I shall do something desperate." "Alexis, Alexis!" The tortured cry sprang from her involuntarily. "What can I do? I am ready to die to make you happy, but I cannot consent to a divorce. It would be a sin. A living lie!" "A sin! A living lie! That is all cant and gibberish. I was sorry for you a while ago, Claire. I pitied you from the bottom of my heart. But you are hard as stone. If you had consented to do what I asked I would have been happy to settle half of my future income upon you, as I am taking up my violin again. But you are like a rock, as fixed in your mold as a fossil in its shelf of prehistoric stone." She wrung her hands. "Oh, Alexis, don't speak to me of money! I'd rather kill myself than to take a penny from you under such conditions." He eyed her wrathfully. "But even that satisfaction is denied you by your church!" "How you hate me!" She rose to her feet and faced him drearily. His expression softened. "No, Claire. I never have hated you. You are mistaken. I even loved you once--as a sister." "As a sister!" She flung her hands out before her blindly. "My God, what a fool, what an ignoble fool you must think me! And I did it all for the best. You were so ill, so distraught. So unlike yourself. The doctors advised me to do it. And you asked me, yourself. There was no other woman! I was so young, I loved you. I had always loved you, Alexis. The gift of myself seemed small in comparison with your need. I never thought it would bring unhappiness to you. Women seemed to mean so little in your life." He stepped towards her uncertainly, a horrified question back of the anger in his eyes. "But didn't you know, didn't you understand why I asked you?" Cold perspiration broke over her quivering body. The claw-like dread clutched once more at her heart. "What do you mean, Alexis?" He laughed cruelly. "The interesting little scene in my room, so beautifully stage-managed by my dear mother?" She rose with a cry. "Alexis! You think I did--that?" "Why not?" he shrugged. "The doctor said I needed a wife. That was a good way to provide me with one. When a child refuses to take medicine, it must be forced down his throat." He laughed excitedly. "But Alexis, how? Why?" She fell limply into a chair and he saw by her stricken face that she was innocent. He was seized by devastating remorse. He ceased his pacing abruptly. "But Claire, this is terrible! I have been judging you all this time when you were innocent. I might have known better!" Claire looked at him in amazement.