Why force me to
decline upon some other less meet for me?"
Alan gazed at her, irresolute. "But if you love me so much," he
said, "surely, surely, it is a small thing to trust your future to
me."
The tenderness of woman let her hand glide over his cheek. She was
not ashamed of her love. "O Alan," she cried, "if it were only for
myself, I could trust you with my life; I could trust you with
anything. But I haven't only myself to think of. I have to think
of right and wrong; I have to think of the world; I have to think
of the cause which almost wholly hangs upon me. Not for nothing
are these impulses implanted in my breast. They are the voice of
the soul of all women within me. If I were to neglect them for the
sake of gratifying your wishes,--if I were to turn traitor to my
sex for the sake of the man I love, as so many women have turned
before me, I should hate and despise myself. I couldn't love you,
Alan, quite so much, loved I not honor more, and the battle imposed
upon me."
Alan wavered as she spoke. He felt what she said was true; even if
he refused to take her on the only terms she could accept, he would
not thereby save her.
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