pang.

"I must go," she repeated, making a motion to rise from her chair. "But I
may not see you again for a long time, and I wanted to tell you that I
have never forgotten the things you said to me at Bellomont, and that
sometimes--sometimes when I seemed farthest from remembering them--they
have helped me, and kept me from mistakes; kept me from really becoming
what many people have thought me."

Strive as she would to put some order in her thoughts, the words would
not come more clearly; yet she felt that she could not leave him without
trying to make him understand that she had saved herself whole from the
seeming ruin of her life.

A change had come over Selden's face as she spoke. Its guarded look had
yielded to an expression still untinged by personal emotion, but full of
a gentle understanding.

"I am glad to have you tell me that; but nothing I have said has really
made the difference. The difference is in yourself--it will always be
there. And since it IS there, it can't really matter to you what people
think: you are so sure that your friends will always understand you."

"Ah, don't say that--don't say that what you have told me has made no
difference. It seems to shut me out--to leave me all alone with the other
people." She had risen and stood before him, once more completely
mastered by the inner urgency of the moment. The consciousness of his
half-divined reluctance had vanished. Whether he wished it or not, he
must see her wholly for once before they parted.

Her voice had gathered strength, and she looked him gravely in the eyes
as she continued. "Once--twice--you gave me the chance to escape from my
life, and I refused it: refused it because I was a coward. Afterward I
saw my mistake--I saw I could never be happy with what had contented me
before. But it was too late: you had judged me--I understood. It was too
late for happiness--but not too late to be helped by the thought of what
I had missed. That is all I have lived on--don't take it from me now!
Even in my worst moments it has been like a little light in the darkness.
Some women are strong enough to be good by themselves, but I needed the
help of your belief in me. Perhaps I might have resisted a great
temptation, but the little ones would have pulled me down. And then I
remembered--I remembered your saying that such a life could never satisfy
me; and I was ashamed to admit to myself that it could. That is what you
did for me--that is w