nt that one can subject to
considerations of propriety and decorum, and God knows what. Oh, you
don't know! Love is a madness that seizes one and shakes one like a leaf
in the wind. I can't counterfeit love; I can't pretend to have it. I
can't command the nerves of my body."

"Do you think I don't know what love is, James? How little you know me."

James sank on a chair and hid his face.

"We none of us understand one another. We're all alike, and yet so
different. I don't even know myself. Don't think I'm a prig when I say
that I've tried with all my might to love you. I would have given worlds
to feel as I felt five years ago. But I can't. God help me!... Oh, you
must hate and despise me, Mary!"

"I, my dear?" she shook her head sadly. "I shall never do that. I want
you to speak frankly. It is much better that we should try to understand
one another."

"That is what I felt. I did not think it honest to marry you with a lie
in my heart. I don't know whether we can ever be happy; but our only
chance is to speak the whole truth."

Mary looked helplessly at him, cowed by her grief.

"I knew it was coming. Every day I dreaded it."

The pain in her eyes was more than James could bear; it was cruel to
make her suffer so much. He could not do it. He felt an intense pity,
and the idea came to him that there might be a middle way, which would
lessen the difficulty. He hesitated a moment, and then, looking down,
spoke in a low voice:

"I am anxious to do my duty, Mary. I have promised to marry you. I do
not wish to break my word. I don't ask you to release me. Will you take
what I can offer? I will be a good husband to you. I will do all I can
to make you happy. I can give you affection and confidence--friendship;
but I can't give you love. It is much better that I should tell you than
that you should find out painfully by yourself--perhaps when it is too
late."

"You came to ask me to release you. Why do you hesitate now? Do you
think I shall refuse?"

James was silent.

"You cannot think that I will accept a compromise. Do you suppose that
because I am a woman I am not made of flesh and blood? You said you
wished to be frank."

"I had not thought of the other way till just now."

"Do you imagine that it softens the blow? How could I live with you as
your wife, and yet not your wife? What are affection and esteem to me
without love? You must think me a very poor creature, James, when you
want to make me a sor