I acknowledge that now. So much I grant
you. But what else am I good for?'
The colour flushed in her fair skin, and her eyes filled again with
tears.
'Come and help!' she said simply. 'There is so much to do. And for
you--a large landowner--there is everything to do.'
His face darkened.
'Yes, if I had the courage for it. But morally I am a weakling--you
know it. Do you remember that I once said to you if Desmond fell, I
should go with him--or after him?'
She waited a moment before replying, and then said with energy,
'That would be just desertion!--_he_ would tell you so.'
Their eyes met, and the passion in hers subdued him. It was a
strange dialogue, as though between two souls bared and stripped of
everything but the realities of feeling.
'Would it be? That might be argued. But anyway I should have done
it--the very night Desmond died--but for you!'
'For me?' she said, shading her eyes with a hand that trembled. 'No,
Mr. Mannering, you could not have done such a thing!--for your
honour's sake--for your children's sake.
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