And all this you have done of your own free-will--at a time when you are absolutely secure of your position in the house--for the sake of speaking the truth.

Now tell me, is a woman who can make that sacrifice a woman who will prove unworthy of the trust if a man places in her keeping his honor and his name ?" She understood him at last.

She broke away from him with a cry.

She stood with her hands clasped, trembling and looking at him.
He gave her no time to think.

The words poured from his lips without conscious will or conscious effort of his own.
"Mercy, from the first moment when I saw you I loved you! You are free; I may own it; I may ask you to be my wife!" She drew back from him further and further, with a wild imploring gesture of her hand.
"No! no!" she cried.