“But we can be!” he exclaimed.

“No,” she answered, in a voice that sounded to him like that of destiny.  “No, we cannot.  No one would marry us if the facts were known.  And if we concealed them from others, we could not hide them from ourselves!  We have no right to each other.  We could not respect and therefore we could not truly love each other.  Into every moment of our lives this guilty secret would intrude.  No, it is impossible.  I see it clearly.  Every passing moment only makes it more plain.  It is terrible, but it is necessary, and what must be, must!”

“We shall not part!” he cried, springing towards her and seizing her by the wrist.  “God has bound us together and no man shall put us asunder!  We are as firmly linked by vice as by virtue.  This secret will draw us together!  We cannot keep away from each other.  I should find you if you were in heaven and I in hell.  You are mine! mine, I say!  Nothing shall part us.  Have I not suffered for you and sinned for you?  What better title is there than that?  It was not the sin, but the secret which has alienated us, and now that I am not compelled to guard it any longer, there can be no more trouble between us.  The deed has passed unsuspected.  We should have heard of it long ago if any one had ever doubted that it was an accident.  Let the dead past bury its dead!  Let us be happy.”

He looked down upon her as if his will were irresistible; but she remained unmoved and immovable, and gazed at him with deep, sad eyes in which he saw his doom.

“No,” she answered, calmly, “it is impossible.  You need not argue.  You cannot change my mind.  I see it all too clearly.  We must part.”

“Oh! pity me,” he cried, falling on his knees.  “What shall I do?  I cannot bear this burden alone.  It will crush me.  Have mercy, Pepeeta.  Do not drive me away.  I cannot endure to go forth with this brand of Cain upon my forehead and realize that I shall never hear from your lips another word of love or comfort.  Pity me.  You are not God.  He has not put justice into your hands for execution.  You are only human!”

“Alas,” she cried, “and all too human.  But, my beloved, I am not acting for myself.  It is not my mind or heart that speaks.  It is God speaking through me.  I feel myself to be acting under an influence apart from myself.  We have resisted these voices and this influence too long.  Now we must obey them.”

“But, Pepeeta,” he continued, “you do not really think that you have the power to suppress the love you feel for me?”

“I shall not try,” she answered.

“But can you not see that this passion of ours will bring us together again?  Sooner or later, love will conquer.  It conquers or crushes.  Everything gives way to it at last.  It disrupts the most solemn contracts.  It burns the strongest bonds like tow.  Always and everywhere, men and women who love will come together.  It is the law of life, it is destiny.  We cannot remain apart, we are linked together for time and eternity.”