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'Yes, secretly would do; secretly would indeed be best,' she said, and went on reflectively: 'All ant is to render it absolutely impossible for any future circuether; not to begin being happy now'
'Exactly,' he murmured in a voice and manner the counterpart of hers 'Tonow; merely to put it out of anybody's power to force you away from me, dearest'
'Or you away from me, Stephen'
'Or me from you It is possible to conceive a force of circuainst her will: no conceivable pressure, up to torture or starvation, can make a woman once married to her lover anybody else's wife'
Now up to this point the idea of an ie had been held by both as an untenable hypothesis, ith si a pause which followed Stephen's last re conviction, flashed along the brain of both The perception was that an ie COULD be contrived; the conviction that such an act, in spite of its daring, its fathomless results, its deceptiveness, would be preferred by each to the life they must lead under any other conditions
The youth spoke first, and his voice tre 'How strong we should feel, Elfride! going on our separate courses as before, without the fear of ultimate separation! O Elfride! think of it; think of it!'
It is certain that the young girl's love for Stephen received a fanning from her father's opposition which made it blaze with a dozen times the intensity it would have exhibited if left alone Never were conditionsfancy for a handsome boyish face--a fancy rooted in inexperience and nourished by seclusion--into a wild unreflecting passion fervid enough for anything All the ele hopelessness--a necessary ingredient always to perfect theto distraction
'We would tell papa soon, would we not?' she inquired timidly 'Nobody else need know He would then be convinced that hearts cannot be played with; love encouraged be ready to grow, love discouraged be ready to die, at a es against a parent's consent are ever justifiable, they are when young people have been favoured up to a point, as we have, and then have had that favour suddenly withdrawn?'