"With the deep, unselfish yearning that asks nothing for itself and seeks only the highest good of its beloved?"
"Yes--yes," she answered mechanically and, pausing, looked again into his burning eyes; "but you frighten me--" she grasped a chair for support, recovered herself and went on rapidly--"you mustn"t ask me to give him up--I won"t give him up! Poor and friendless, with a shadow over my life and everything against me, I have won him and he"s mine! I have the right to his love--I didn"t ask to be born. I must live my own life. I have as much right to happiness as you. Why must I bear the sins of my father and mother? Have I broken the law? Haven"t I a heart that can ache and break and cry for joy?"
He allowed the first paroxysm of her emotion to spend itself before he replied, and then in quiet tones said:
"You must give him up!"
"I won"t! I won"t, I tell you!" she said through her set teeth as she suddenly swung her strong, young form before him. "I won"t give him up! His love has made life worth living and I"m going to live it! I don"t care what you say--he"s mine--and you shall not take him from me!"
Norton was stunned by the fiery intensity with which her answer had been given. There was no mistaking the strength of her character. Every vibrant note of her voice had rung with sincerity, purity, the justice of her cause, and the consciousness of power. He was dealing with no trembling schoolgirl"s mind, filled with sentimental dreams. A woman, in the tragic strength of a great nature, stood before him. He felt this greatness instinctively and met it with reverence. It could only be met thus, and as he realized its strength, his heart took fresh courage. His own voice became tender, eager, persuasive:
"But suppose, my dear, I show you that you will destroy the happiness and wreck the life of the man you love?"
"Impossible! He knows that I"m nameless and his love is all the deeper, truer and more manly because he realizes that I am defenseless."
"But suppose I convince you?"
"You can"t!"
"Suppose," he said in a queer tone, "I tell you that the barrier between you is so real, so loathsome----"
"Loathsome?" she repeated with a start.
"So loathsome," he went on evenly, "that when he knows the truth, whether he wishes it or not, he will instinctively turn from you with a shudder."
"I won"t believe it!"
"Suppose I prove to you that marriage would wreck both your life and his"--he gazed at her with trembling intensity--"would you give him up to save him?"
She held his eye steadily:
"Yes--I"d die to save him!"
A pitiful stillness followed. The man scarcely moved. His lips quivered and his eyes grew dim. He looked at her pathetically and motioned her to a seat.
"And if I convince you," he went on tenderly, "you will submit yourself to my advice and leave America?"
The blue eyes never flinched as she firmly replied:
"Yes. But I warn you that no such barrier can exist."
"Then I must prove to you that it does." He drew a deep breath and watched her. "You realize the fact that a man who marries a nameless girl bars himself from all careers of honor?"
"The honor of fools, yes--of the n.o.ble and wise, no!"
"You refuse to see that the shame which shadows a mother"s life will smirch her children, and like a deadly gangrene at last eat the heart out of her husband"s love?"
"My faith in him is too big----"
"You can conceive of no such barrier?"
"No!"
"In the first rush of love," he replied kindly, "you feel this. Emotion obscures reason. But there are such barriers between men and women."
"Name one!"
His brow clouded, his lips moved to speak and stopped. It was more difficult to frame in speech than he had thought. His jaw closed with firm decision at last and he began calmly:
"I take an extreme case. Suppose, for example, your father, a proud Southern white man, of culture, refinement and high breeding, forgot for a moment that he was white and heard the call of the Beast, and your mother were an octoroon--what then?"
The girl flushed with anger:
"Such a barrier, yes! Nothing could be more loathsome. But why ask me so disgusting a question? No such barrier could possibly exist between us!"
Norton"s eyes were again burning into her soul as he asked in a low voice:
"Suppose it does?"
The girl smiled with a puzzled look:
"Suppose it does? Of course, you"re only trying to prove that such an impossible barrier might exist! And for the sake of argument I agree that it would be real"--she paused and her breath came in a quick gasp. She sprang to her feet clutching at her throat, trembling from head to foot--"What do you mean by looking at me like that?"
Norton lowered his head and barely breathed the words:
"That _is_ the barrier between you!"
Helen looked at him dazed. The meaning was too big and stupefying to be grasped at once.
"Why, of course, major," she faltered, "you just say that to crush me in the argument. But I"ve given up the point. I"ve granted that such a barrier may exist and would be real. But you haven"t told me the one between us."
The man steeled his heart, turned his face away and spoke in gentle tones:
"I am telling you the pitiful, tragic truth--your mother is a negress----"
With a smothered cry of horror the girl threw herself on him and covered his mouth with her hand, half gasping, half screaming her desperate appeal:
"Stop! don"t--don"t say it!--take it back! Tell me that it"s not true--tell me that you only said it to convince me and I"ll believe you. If the hideous thing is true--for the love of G.o.d deny it now! If it"s true--lie to me"--her voice broke and she clung to Norton"s arms with cruel grip--"lie to me! Tell me that you didn"t mean it, and I"ll believe you--truth or lie, I"ll never question it! I"ll never cross your purpose again--I"ll do anything you tell me, major"--she lifted her streaming eyes and began slowly to sink to her knees--"see how humble--how obedient I am!
You don"t hate me, do you? I"m just a poor, lonely girl, helpless and friendless now at your feet"--her head sank into her hands until the beautiful brown hair touched the floor--"have mercy! have mercy on me!"
Norton bent low and fumbled for the trembling hand. He couldn"t see and for a moment words were impossible.
He found her hand and pressed it gently:
"I"m sorry, little girl! I"d lie to you if I could--but you know a lie don"t last long in this world. I"ve lied about you before--I"d lie now to save you this anguish, but it"s no use--we all have to face things in the end!"
With a mad cry of pain, the girl sprang to her feet and staggered to the table:
"Oh, G.o.d, how could any man with a soul--any living creature, even a beast of the field--bring me into the world--teach me to think and feel, to laugh and cry, and thrust me into such a h.e.l.l alone! My proud father--I could kill him!"