, 1910-03-03
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.t .. ..tI.e Deleve TINS man =
IT, be John ltevell Charnock:
r,f lie IS an American, n that he
cane from Virginia. ! know him TO
h. a Christian and a gentleman. In
all the days hat we have been togeth.
er on this island he has done me no
wrong He has been gentleness, kind.
mess docility itself, and despite our.
selyos VIC have learned to love each
oiher. Until yesterday we did not
NOW It. Now 1t II for him to say
What we will do"
Kate, Kate" cried Langford, you
tannot let this untutored savage"
mot that" said the woman, "for |
ave taught him all I know and all I
believe"
"you cannot let him decide this
buestion," continued the man. passing
byer her interruption.
Yes" said the woman, me must
decide, but whatever he decides, what
6ver the relationship between this
man and this oma is to be, I can
bever be anything on earth to you
Don't say that" said Whitaker.
fThink. my dear lady, what you do.
What his man offers you, the position
n which God forgive me! you
ttand."
Sir" said the woman, addressing
he lieutenant commander, this man
kronged me grievously, terribly. He
Deceived me He broke my heart. He
Tiled ambition. aspiration and respect
or my own kind within my soul. I
know him through and through. The
fact ti,at he failed nuickened his pas
lion; the fact that men "a 1 am
beautiful made him the more eager:
The fact hat he vas away and that
be could not lay his hands upon me
made him the more insistent; the fac
that | had Haunted him and said him
bay and struck him down made him
The more determined"
Kate, Kate, you wrong me. Before
God you wrong mel" interrupted
Langford.
And indeed, madam, I believe you
TO-" commented Whitaker.
Let her speak on" said the man Of
The island.
1T may be that you are right" con-
inued the m 1T may be that
be is higher. nobler, truer than I have
5ancied. | should be glad to be able
% think so. l am willing to take your
view of it, his assertion of it, but
DO not love him. Should l marry him,
would bring to him a heart, a soul,
body hat turns to some n else.
He could never be anything. to me.
AS | am a Christian woman, a lover
bf my God and a follower of his Son,
cannot see but that l would be add
Ing one wrong to another to come to
Ibis man in compliance with any sug-
kestion of the world, following any
Dictate of society, subservient to any
Convention. l cannot see but that I
Would be doing as great or a greater
wrong than l did before in fiaunt-
M all of these forces. l have learned
What love is and what marriage should
be. | will not give my hand and yield
PIP my person where l cannot yield my
heart. And there Is no expiration or
3eparation that requires 1t of me, no
koice that can coerce me into it. l
Nill not marry you, Valentine Lang
lord. | will accept your expressions
bs evidenced by your words, by your
presence here. as testimony to your
fegret. Indeed. l realize that your con
Pession was itself a great humiliation
TO a man like you. And perhaps l have
Spoken harshly of it. But the bare
Tact remains, ! do not love you, l could
pot love you. don't even want to love
Fou. My heart. my soul goes to this
pnan,' h turned to her companion Of
fhe island, whom up to to-day l have
Pnade and fashioned and taught and
FRAMED until these hours when he has
broken away from me. l love this
fnan who stands silent, who thinks of
|me as a thing spotted. polluted,
damned. Him | love. though he slay
Pne, yet will l love him. Him l trust.
Though he disobey me. yet will I love
him. Him l will serve. though he cast
ine of, yet will l love him. And with
|thls in my heart in which | glory and
(Which | confess as openly and with
as little hesitation as you confessed
-Four shame, | give you my final, abso-
|lute' utterly irrevocable decision. I
|"ill not marry you, l. will not go back