What should she do now? Nothing. She would go on as though nothing had occurred to disturb the relations between them. He told her, before this cloud had fallen upon them, that his life would be worthless to him if she did not share it. Now he might do or say what he pleased; she would never be forced from his side. No; she was engaged to him, and in ordinary cases, when women are engaged to men, they expect the men to marry them, unless there is some excellent reason for not doing so. In this case no reason existed for his not marrying her. If he had grown tired of her; if he had relented having asked her to marry him; if he had met anyone he liked better, she would be eager to release him. But nothing of the kind entered into the present case. He loved her still, as he had loved her all along, and his life's happiness would be endangered if she allowed him to break with her now. Besides, this scruple that was upon him would not last; it would pass away. What an unlucky coincidence she should have introduced him to Parkinson! No doubt that man of science had had something--much--to do with the unfortunate change which had taken place in George. Well, that could not be helped now. She must only try and undo the harm, and how could she possibly undo it if she gave him up in this way? No; whatever might happen, she would never let him go from her, when going from her would do him harm, not good. She had no scruple about throwing that foolish promise to the winds; or rather it was not that the promise was foolish, but that it was foolish to think it applied to him. When he had extracted that pledge or promise or vow from her, she most assuredly meant to keep it, as he and she then meant it; but she had never thought such a condition could be applied to him. If at the time he had asked her if she would pledge herself to repudiate him if his religious opinions changed, she would have refused to do so. To keep that pledge to the letter would be to break it to the spirit; for the spirit was that she was so to pledge herself, in order that he and she might not be separated hereafter. That was the only inducement she recognised in making that promise. She would not have made it for all the world if she thought it could possibly come between him and her. Even taking the religious view solely, she must not think of giving him up. For as he had been first disturbed in his faith while he was friendly, in love with her, the best chance of his recovering from his folly would lie in having her near him always; for not only would this supply him with a quiet, unobtrusive advocate, but in her, and in her alone, could he have by him a woman who could not only sympathise with his conscientious struggles, but who had been near him, and in a way with him, through the wild terrors of the first onset on his faith. Plainly her duty to Heaven and to him was refusal of his request for freedom, refusal to give him up this ring.