"Dear, you and I have already come a long way on the blossoming path together. I believe it is written that we travel it together to the end. Don’t you want me _always_, Steve?" "Yes," she sighed, pressing her hand over his at her waist. "I do want you, always.... But, Jim—I’m not what you think me. I ran rather wild while you were away. Liberty went to my empty head. I didn’t seem to care what I did. The very devils seemed to be in my heels and they carried me everywhere at random——" "Nonsense!" "Oh, they did! They landed me in a dreadful pickle. You know they did. And now here I am, married, and falling more desperately in love every minute with the other man. _You_ can’t really love such a fool of a girl!" "It makes no difference," he said, "I can’t go on alone, now." She pressed her cheek against his shoulder: "You need not. You can always have me when you wish." "You mean—just this way?" "Yes.... How else——" She looked up at him; he suddenly stopped in the path, her next step brought her around facing him, where she halted, encircled by his arm. After a moment’s silence, she rested her clasped hands on his shoulder, looking very seriously into his eyes. "How else?" she repeated in a half-whisper. "Divorce." "No, dear." "Either that or—we can go away somewhere—together——" The dryness of his throat checked him, and her clear eyes looked him through and through. "Either you or I," he said, "have got to tell Oswald how matters——" "We can’t, Jim." "Tell him," he continued, "that we are in love with each other and need to marry——" "Oh, Jim—my dear—dearest, I can’t do that!" "It’s true, isn’t it?" he demanded. She did not answer for a while. Then she unclasped his hands, which had been resting on his shoulder, and slipped one arm around his neck: "Yes, it is true; I want to marry you. But I can’t.... So—so won’t this way do?" she said. "You can always have me this way." He kissed her lifted lips. "No, it won’t do, Steve. I want all that you are, all that you have to give the man you love and marry, all that the future holds of beauty and of mystery for us both.... I want a home with you, Steve; I want every minute of life with you, waking and sleeping.... I love you, Steve.... And because I do love you I dare tell you that I am falling in love with our future, too—in love with the very thought of—your children, Steve.... Dear, I think that I am like my father. I love only once. And once in love, there is nothing else for me; no other woman, no recompense if you fail me, no cure for me." They both were deadly serious now; his face was quiet but set in firm and sober lines; she had lost much of her colour, so that the grey eyes with their dark lashes seemed unusually large. "I _can’t_ marry you," she said, drawing his head nearer. "Do you think for one moment that I would deny you anything you asked of me if it were in my power to give?" "Will you not tell me why?"