Her bosom rose and fell with a slow and tremulous movement, as though stirring with deep, soundless sighs.

A little smile hovered on her lips, tender, rapturous.
But at length she withdrew her hand, while the soft gladness passed from her face.
"It cannot be; you must go, Lee," she said.
Bryant remembered--and felt the ice forming about his heart.

He shivered slightly.

The full cruelty of the situation was reached.

Ruth Gardner not only held him, but he held her as well by a thread to which she could cling for safety against the blandishments of scoundrels, and her own desires, and the dark uncertainty of the future.