"Please tell Archie that I will not let him sacrifice himself for me.
I know that he will wish to remain, and I, too, wish to remain. We are
all English, and who knows how little or how much we are all to blame
for this disaster? We must share it together."
Something like a sigh of relief passed Nicholson's compressed lips,
but he said nothing. In duty bound, he dared not offer encouragement
nor plead for the fulfillment of his hopes. With mixed feelings he
turned to Beatrice. Possessed as he now was of all the details of her
conduct, he could not but lay at her door the consequences of a
frivolous and heartless action. But her pitiless self-denunciation at
the meeting, her present quiet and dignity, subdued in him all scorn
and anger. Courage saluted courage as their eyes met.
"And you, Miss Cary?"
"Lois has already answered for me," she said. "If there was any
justice in this world, I alone should suffer; but one can never suffer
alone, it seems. The least I can do is to stand by you all." Her tone
revealed all the remorse and suffering of which human nature is
capable. It stirred in him a sudden impulsive pity. He crossed the
room with outstretched hand.
"You are a brave woman."
She smiled bitterly, but the color rushed to her cheeks.
"Thank you. You have paid me the only compliment for which I care. But
it is a small thing to take one's punishment without crying. After
all, death isn't the worst.
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