"
Before he could add another word she left the table as suddenly as
she had approached it, and returned to her chair. He had unconsciously
replied in terms that reminded her of the hard necessity which still
remained unfulfilled--the necessity of telling him the story of the
past. Not an idea of concealing that story from his knowledge crossed
her mind. "Will he love me, when he knows the truth, as he loves me
now?" That was her only thought as she tried to approach the subject in
his presence without shrinking from it.
"Let us put my own feelings out of the question," she said. "There is
a reason for my not going away, unless I first have the assurance of
seeing you again. You have a claim--the strongest claim of any one--to
know how I came here, unknown to my friends, and how it was that you
found me fallen so low."
"I make no claim," he said, hastily. "I wish to know nothing which
distresses you to tell me."
"You have always done your duty," she rejoined, with a faint smile. "Let
me take example from you, if I can, and try to do mine."
"I am old enough to be your father," he said, bitterly. "Duty is more
easily done at my age than it is at yours.
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