O my God!' he added, with a gesture of his arm.

'If it all happened reasonably, and not all topsy-turvy--not in our way but in a way of its own! Why, it's as if I had stolen that love! You think so too, don't deny it.

You must think so.

But will you believe it, of all the horrid and stupid things I have found time to do in my life--and there are many--this is one I do not and cannot repent of.

Neither at the beginning nor afterwards did I lie to myself or to her.