"Forgive me, Geoffrey," she repeated. "One cannot get accustomed to the
loss of happiness, and I cannot live without you; indeed, I cannot. Say
that we may begin again, that, even though we must for the present be
parted, we may still love and live for each other. See! I am laughing
and am happy," she cried hysterically. "Speak! Do speak to me?"
Tears were trembling in her deep, wonderful eyes like dewdrops in the
calix of a blue flower, and without knowing what I did, I stroked her
silky hair. Slowly she bent her head, and at last I softly kissed her
eyelids.
"Yes," I said huskily, "I love you, Ella--for I can call you by no other
name, and cannot think of you other than as the woman I believed you to
be. I can see that although we are man and wife in the eyes of the law,
that you were right to end the folly, even though you were unable to do
it without some pangs of conscience. You are my wife, it is true, but
our lives lie apart, for your position precludes you from acknowledging
me to the world as your husband. You--"
"Yes, I will. I will, Geoffrey! Soon I shall be freed from this
terrible yoke that crushes me beneath its burden," she exclaimed
eagerly. "Be patient, and ere long we may again live together and enjoy
our happiness to the full. You still doubt that I really love you. You
believe that my marriage was a mere freak, of which I afterwards
repented, and then strove to hide my identity. What can I do?" she
cried, dismayed. "What can I do to give you proof that I love no other
man?"
"One very small action," I answered gravely, still holding her slight,
trembling form in my arms.
"What is it?" she inquired quickly, glancing up into my face. "I am
ready to do it, whatever it is."
For a moment I paused in hesitation.
"Answer me a single question, Ella," I said. "Remember you are my wife,
and should have no secrets from me. Tell me, truthfully and honestly,
how there came into your possession the secret document that was stolen
from me on the day of Dudley's death."
The colour left her face, her lips moved, and a slight shiver ran over
her shoulders as she gazed at me. Never before had her eyes seemed so
large, nor had there been such depths in them. Some subtle influence
seemed in an instant to have transfigured her whole being.