now?"

"I purpose remaining with my family," I answered, "as long as I have
a family; and when this family is no more, what I shall do concerns no
one."

"But, sir," replied Patience, "if you were told that you could not
remain under the same roof with them without causing the death of one or
the other, would you persist in staying?"

"If I were convinced that this was so," I rejoined, "I would not appear
in their presence. I would remain at their door and await the last
day of their life, or the first day of their renewed health, and again
implore a love I have not yet ceased to deserve."

"Ah, we have come to this!" said Patience, with a smile of contempt. "I
should not have believed it. However, I am very glad; it makes matters
clearer."

"What do you mean?" I cried. "Speak, you wretch! Explain yourself!"

"You are the only wretch here," he answered coldly, at the same time
sitting down on the one stool in the cottage, while I remained standing
before him.

I wanted to draw an explanation from him, at all costs. I restrained my
feelings; I even humbled myself so far as to say that I should be ready
to accept advice, if he would consent to tell me the words that Edmee
had uttered immediately after the event, and those which she had
repeated in her hours of delirium.