Still holding her fingers, he slipped his watch from his pocket with the other hand and glanced quickly at its face to see if it were time for his return to the Ransom house. "Come, Ruth, this is very painful to me. You must not humiliate yourself so. You have pride and the heritage of noble blood." She sprang to her feet and stared at him, with infinite yearning in her eyes, gave a faint cry, half anguish, half despair, and threw herself into his arms, holding him with passionate violence while she smothered his lips and eyes with kisses. He attempted gently to draw her arms from his neck. "No, you shall not," she cried, holding him convulsively. "I will not let you go. You are my husband--my own, my love, the hero of my girl's dreams, the father of my babies. I have no pride. I will do anything for you if you will only love me." "But, Ruth, if I have ceased to love you--" "Don't, don't say it!" she shrieked, placing her hand on his lips. "I will not hear it. You do love me. This woman has lured you with her devil's beauty, and thrown her spell over your baser nature. Ah, Frank, dear, tell me that you love me! Lie to me as meaner men lie to their women. Such a lie I'll hold an honour before the awful shame of desertion. You cannot humiliate me so. See, dear, I am at your feet. Have mercy on me. Do not ask me to bear more than I can endure. Am I not the mother of your children?" Gordon frowned and withdrew her arms from his neck. "All this is very painful, Ruth. You cannot mean it. You know I have tried to be honest. I hate a lie. I could not tell one if I tried. You cannot love me and ask this infamy. I could never lift up my head again as a leader and teacher of men and know I was a wilful liar." The little figure shivered. "But, Frank, I can't give you up. It was the touch of your hand, the music of your voice that first awoke my woman's soul. You are my mate. You cannot know the young mother-wonder, pain and joy that thrilled my heart as I first bent over Lucy's face, your dear eyes in hers smiling at me. Our very flesh became one in Nature's miracle of love." "And yet our lives have somehow drifted apart, Ruth." "But not so far, dear, as this woman has made you believe," she answered tenderly. "I have been selfish and resentful, but I will make it all up. I will lift up my head and be cheerful--live for you, work for you, think only of you, ask nothing for myself but only your presence and your love." "But if I have given it to another--" Again she put her hand on his lips.