"Without you----"
She shook her head. "No--no! For other, better reasons. We have
our duty to do. We must do it. It is the only way to be happy. I
am sure of that."
"Have you found it so?" he said. "Are you happy?"
She hesitated.
He pressed his advantage instantly. "You are not. You know you
are not. Do you think you can deceive me even though you may
deceive yourself? We have known each other too long for that. You
are not happy, Sylvia. You are afraid of life as it is--of life as
it might be. You haven't pluck to take your fate into your own
hands and hew out a way for yourself. You're the slave of
circumstances and you're afraid to break free." He made as if he
would release her, and then suddenly, unexpectedly, caught her hand
up to his face. "All the same, you are mine--you are mine!" he
told her hotly. "You belonged to me from the beginning, and
nothing else counts or ever can count against that. I would have
died to get out of your way. I tried to die. But you brought me
back. And now, say what you like--say what you like--you are mine!
I saw it in your eyes last night, and I defy every law that man
ever made to take you from me. I defy the thing you call duty.
You love me! You have always loved me! Deny it if you can!"
It was swift, it was almost overwhelming. At another moment it
might have swept her off her feet.
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