'Believe me,' she said, raising her arms in a beautiful feminine movement,
'I do not wish to make you unhappy.'

'Then why do you persist? Why do you refuse to take the only step that may
lead us out of this difficulty?'

'How can you ask me? Oh, Hubert, I did not think you could be so cruel! It
would be a shameful action.'

It was the first time she had used his Christian name, and his face changed
expression.

'I cannot,' she said, 'and I will not, and I do not understand how you can
ask me--you who are so loyal, how can you ask me to be disloyal?'

'Spare me your reproaches. Fate has been cruel. I have never told you the
story of my life. I have suffered deeply; my pride has been humiliated, and
I have endured hunger and cold; but those sufferings were light compared to
this last misfortune.'

She looked at him with sublime pity in her eyes. 'I do not conceal from
you,' she said, 'that I love you very much. I, too, have suffered, and I
had thought for one moment that fate had vouchsafed me happiness; but, as
you would say--the irony of life.'

'Julia, do not say you never will?'

'We cannot look into the future. But this I can say--I will not do Emily
any wrong, and so far as is in my power I will avoid giving her pain. There