And just because I do love you
so, and because I am a thief's sister, I--oh, I can never be your
wife--I couldn't, could I?"

"By God, Hermione, but you shall!" As he spoke he caught her in his
arms, passionate arms that drew and held her close. Very still and
unresisting she lay in his embrace, uttering no word; and stooping, he
kissed her fiercely--her lips, her eyes, her white throat, her hair,
and, silent still, she yielded herself to his caresses.

"You are mine, Hermione, mine always and forever! You are the one woman
I long for--the wife nature intended for me! You are mine, Hermione!"

Very softly she answered, her eyes closed:

"I felt at the first there was a gulf dividing us--and now--this gulf
is wider--so wide it can never be crossed by either of us. Your world is
not my world, after all--you are Geoffrey Ravenslee and I am only--what
I am. Newport and Fifth Avenue are a long way from Hell's Kitchen and
Tenth Avenue, and they can never--never come together. And I--am a
thief's sister, so please, please loose me--oh, have mercy and--let me
go."

His arms fell from her and, shivering, she sank beside the table, and
the pale agony of her face smote him.

"But you love me, Hermione?" he pleaded.

"If I had only known," she sighed, "I might not have learned to love
you--quite so much! If I had only known!" Her voice was soft and low,
her blue eyes wide and tearless, and because of this, he trembled.

"Hermione," said he gently, "all this week I have been planning for you
and Arthur. I have been dreaming of our life together, yours and mine,
a life so big, so wonderful, so full of happiness that I trembled,
sometimes, dreading it was only a dream. Dear, the gates of our paradise
are open; will you shut me out? Must I go back to my loneliness?"

"I shall be lonely, too!" she murmured brokenly. "But better, oh, far
better loneliness than that some day--" she paused, her lips quivering.

"Some day, Hermione?"

"You should find that you had married not only a scrubwoman but--the
sister of a--thief!" Suddenly she sprang to her feet, her clinging arms
held him to her bosom and, drawing down his head, she pressed her mouth
to his; holding him thus, she spoke, her voice low and quick and
passionate:

"Oh, my love, my love! I do love you with every thought, with every part
of me--so much, so very much that my heart is breaking, I think. But,
dearest, my love is such that I would be everything fair and beaut