en on himself the burden of her life, and have come
unscathed through the ordeal--calm himself, calm in his influence, a
true doctor in the home; but Piers, by reason of those very qualities
which endeared him to her woman's heart, was the last man on earth to
support the strain. His fear, his anxiety, though expressed in
tenderest devotion, must inevitably act and react on both. At this
moment the great question appealed to her woman's heart less in its
abstract than in the personal form, as affecting the happiness of the
beloved. Whatever he might feel at this moment of stress and passion,
it could not be for Piers Rendall's ultimate happiness to marry a woman
over whom hung the deep cloud of inherited madness. His aim
accomplished, joy would be speedily eclipsed in dread. In imagination
she could see his haggard looks, feel the dark eyes brooding over her
with fearful care. So far he had been free. If the chains fretted too
sorely he had only to drop them, and go forth. How would he bear it if
there were no escape? How could _she_ bear it for his sake?

Vanna lifted her head and looked deep into her lover's eyes. Her voice
was clear and steady:

"No, Piers! I will never marry you. Never, to the end of time. But I
will not bind you. You are quite free--"

"Free!" He turned from her with a loud, harsh laugh. "Good God, how
you quibble with words! I have loved you, I have given you my life--how
can I be free? What have I left if you cast me off? What have _you_
left? How can you insult me with such words? How can you be so cold,
so cruel? Women have no hearts. They don't know what it is to love--"
The wild words flowed on in breathless torrent. Then suddenly came the
collapse: he turned towards her, met the glance of her piteous eyes, and
melted into remorse. "My poor Vanna, I am hurting you. Forgive me,
darling! I am a brute, a selfish brute; I am half mad myself... Oh,
this world! what a hell it can be! What have we done to be cursed and
set aside? It is cruel--unjust. If we can never marry, why did we ever
meet?"

Vanna shivered. "_Why did we ever meet_?" Was it Piers who had spoken
those words?--Piers, who had declared that to love her was a higher joy
than to be the husband of any other woman! Once again the knell-like
bell tolled in her ears. It was almost a relief when, after a few more
incoherent words, Piers suddenly turned to depart.

"I won't stay. I am hurting you. I