me if I own this in plain words.
I cannot control myself--I feel too strongly."

At other times Mercy might have heard the coming avowal in his tones,
might have discovered it in his eyes. As it was, her delicate insight
was dulled, her fine perception was blunted. She held out her hand to
him, feeling a vague conviction that he was kinder to her than ever--and
feeling no more.

"I must thank you for the last time," she said. "As long as life is
left, my gratitude will be a part of my life. Let me go. While I can
still control myself, let me go!"

She tried to leave him, and ring the bell. He held her hand firmly, and
drew her closer to him.

"To the Refuge?" he asked.

"Yes," she said. "Home again!"

"Don't say that!" he exclaimed. "I can't bear to hear it. Don't call the
Refuge your home!"

"What else is it? Where else can I go?"

"I have come here to tell you. I said, if you remember, I had something
to propose."

She felt the fervent pressure of his hand; she saw the mounting
enthusiasm flashing in his eyes. Her weary mind roused itself a little.
She began to tremble under the electric influence of his touch.

"Something to propose?" she repeated, "What is there to propose?"

"Let me ask you a question on my side. What have you done to-day?"

"You know what I have done: it is your work," she answered, humbly. "Why
return to it now?"

"I return to it for the last time; I return to it with a purpose which
you will soon understand. You have abandoned your marriage engagement;
you have forfeited Lady Janet's love; you have ruined all your worldly
prospects; you are now returning, self-devoted, to a life which you have
yourself described as a life without hope. And all this you have done
of your own free-will--at a time when you are absolutely secure of your
position in the house--for the sake of speaking the truth. Now tell me,
is a woman who can make that sacrifice a woman who will prove unworthy
of the trust if a man places in her keeping his honor and his name?"

She understood him at last. She broke away from him with a cry. She
stood with her hands clasped, trembling and looking at him.

He gave her no time to think. The words poured from his lips without
conscious will or conscious effort of his own.

"Mercy, from the first moment when I saw you I loved you! You are free;
I may own it; I may ask you to be my wife!"

She drew back from him further and further, with a wild imploring
gesture of