Page 232 (1/1)

"I did, indeed I did!"

"Very well, then," he went on, "I will speak my mind I must be very candid, even if I seem harsh When I say you must cut yourself off from all the associations of the past, I mean yourhis fullat last "Oh no, not that!"

"Yes, just that, and finally that She is your mother, and you love her; but you are a huht to healthy, norress to sacrifice the young to the old Your , and I cannot for an instant agree to your subht to yourself, and she must surrender her authority to me, and she must leave you for a tih you Your struggles tear s your sufferings"

"You must not blauides tell me that if I would surrender myself completely to them I would find peace," she ended, slowly, sadly, as if in confession

"Peace! Yes, the peace of the epileptic or the mad No, no, joy and health do not lie that way If I were the scientist merely, I would say, 'Keep on, and I will stand by to observe your struggles' But I aonizes me to see you tortured I cannot endure it and I will not In order that I ive yourself wholly intovoice, oblivious of ti'e autocrat My power is dependent on you" Then, in answer to her questioning eyes, he hurried on: "I love you, dear girl, and if you find you can trust yourself to me, fully, in this way, then I am sure of victory Can you say this? I hope you can, for then I will have theon my side Are you able to do this? Can you say you lovein me as in a husband?"

No one was astir in the car but the porter, but had it been filled with cla, impertinent eyes, she would have been conscious only of his tender glance, his earnest voice, and the led to speak, but could not, and he hastened on: "I will be honest with you Yourtowards you She knows also that I consider her separation from you necessary, for a time, and is hurt and saddened by it; but she will come to see the necessity of this h I wish your heart were mine this minute--but I do want you to know that from the first moment I saw you your life has been a part of h I tried to do so, and I will not now give you up"