Oh, Norman, be merciful to me! Leaving you would be a living death!" "You cannot suffer more than I do," he said--"and I would give my life to save you pain; but, my darling, I cannot be so false to the traditions of my race, so false to the honor of my house, so untrue to my ancestors and to myself, as to ask you to stay here.

There has never been a blot on our name.

The annals of our family are pure and stainless.

I could not ask you to remain here and treat you as my wife, even to save my life!" "I have done no wrong, Norman; why should you punish me so cruelly ?" "No, my darling, you have done no wrong--and the punishment is more mine than yours.

I lose the wife whom I love most dearly--I lose my all." "And what do I lose ?" she moaned.
"Not so much as I do, because you are the fairest and sweetest of women.
You shall live in all honor, Madaline.