'Hers is no evanescent fancy, but a passion that goes to the very roots of
her nature, and will kill her if it be not satisfied.'
'Or cut out in time.'
'I must leave.'
'That will not mend matters.'
'My departure will, at all events, remove all cause for jealousy; and when
I am gone you may learn to love her.'
'No; that I swear is impossible!'
'You very likely think so now; but I'm bound to give her every chance of
winning you.'
'I say again that that is impossible! I have never seen a woman except
yourself I could marry. I tell you so: believe me as you like.... In this
matter you are acting like a woman,--you allow your emotions and not your
intellect to lead you. By acting thus, you are certainly sacrificing two
lives--hers and mine. Of your own I do not speak, not knowing what is
passing in your heart; but if by any chance you should care for me, you are
adding your own happiness to the general holocaust.' Neither spoke again
for some time.
'Why should you not marry her?' Julia said, at the end of a long silence.
'Some people think her quite a pretty girl.'
The lovers looked at each other and smiled sadly. And then, in pathetic
phrases, Hubert tried to explain why he could never love Emily. He spoke of
his age, and of difference of tastes,--he liked clever women. The
conversation fell. At the end of a long silence, Julia said--
'There is nothing for it but my departure, and the sooner the better.'
'You are not in earnest? You are surely not in earnest?'
'Yes, indeed I am.'
'Then, if you go, you must take her with you. She cannot remain here alone
with me. And even if she could, I could not live with her. Her folly has
destroyed any liking I may have ever had for her. You'll have to take her
with you.'
'She would not come with me. I spoke to her once of a trip abroad.'
'And she refused?'
'She said she only wanted things to go on just as they are.'