Loving you as I love you, I could wed no other while you live." She paled, but persisted.
"But, _if_, Hugh?
_If_ ?" "Then, no," he said.

"I should not leave one I had wed.

But----" "Hugh," she said, "thinking you faithless, I took the holy vows which wedded me to Heaven.

How can I leave my heavenly Bridegroom, for love of any man upon this earth ?" "Not 'any man,'" he answered; "but your betrothed, returned to claim you; the man to whom you said as parting words: 'Maid or wife, I am all thine own; thine and none other's forever.' Ah, that brings the warm blood to thy cheek! Oh, my Heart's Life, if it was true then, it is true still! God is not a man that he should lie, or rob another of his bride.

If I had wed another woman, I should have done that thing, honestly believing thee the wife of another man.