I only knew it was something in me stronger than any other impulse of
my life. I know what it is now, and you must know, too. Can't you
understand? If it had been no more than a comedy, you must have found
me out--months ago. But you never found me out. It was _I_ who told
you what I had done and who I was--"
"Why did you tell me?" He took an involuntary step toward her.
Something in his face relaxed beneath the force of an uncontrollable
emotion. He was asking a question which had hammered at the gates of
his mind day after day and in every waking hour. "Why?" he repeated.
"I have told you--because I had to. I had to speak the truth. I
couldn't build up my new life on an old lie. You had to know. I had
won your love by a trick. I had to show you the lowest and worst part
of myself before the best in me could grow--the best in me, which is
yours."
"You are raving!"
"I am not raving. You must see I am not. Look at me. I am calmer than
you, though I face certain death. I knew when I came here that the
chances were I should be killed before I even saw you, but I had to
risk that. I had to win your trust back somehow, honestly and fairly.
I can not live without your trust."
"Beatrice!" The name escaped him almost without his knowledge. He saw
tears spring to her eyes.
"It is true. Your love and your trust have become my life. Then I was
unworthy of both. I tried to make myself worthy.
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