"Will you deny me ?" "No, Ailsa." She said, steadily: "The other--the lesser happiness is to be--forgotten.

Answer." "It--must be." She bent lower, whispering: "Is there no wedlock of the spirit ?" "That is all there ever was to hope for." "Then--_will_ you--Philip ?" "Yes.

Will _you_, Ailsa ?" "I--will." He rose; her fingers slipped from his hair to his hands, and they stood, confronted.
She said in a dull voice: "I am engaged to--be--married to Captain Hallam." "I know it." She spoke again, very white.
"Can you tell me why you will not marry me ?" "No, I cannot tell you." "I--would love you none the less.

Don't you believe me ?" "Yes, I do now.

But I--cannot ask that of you." "Yet--you would have--taken me without--marriage." He said, quietly: "Marriage--or love to the full, without it--God knows how right or wrong that may be.