It is well that it should be so. As to
what happened--that which I may feel has nothing to do with whether I was
justified or no. But if thee has thought that I have repented doing what
I did, let that pass for ever from your mind. I know that I should do the
same, yes, even a hundred times. I did according to my nature. Thee must
not now be punished cruelly for a thing thee did not do. Silence is the
only way of safety or of justice. We must not speak of this again. We
must each go our own way."
Her eyes were moist. She reached out a hand to him timidly. "Oh, forgive
me," she added brokenly, "I am so vain, so selfish, and that makes one
blind to the truth. It is all clearer now. You have shown me that I was
right in my first impulse, and that is all I can say for myself. I shall
pray all my life that it will do you no harm in the end."
She remained silent, for a moment adjusting her veil, preparing to go.
Presently she spoke again: "I shall always want to know about you--what
is happening to you. How could it be otherwise?"
She was half realising one of the deepest things in existence, that the
closest bond between two human beings is a bond of secrecy upon a thing
which vitally, fatally concerns both or either.
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