"Madaline," he said, gently, "I do not understand the ways of destiny.
Why you and I have to suffer this torture I cannot say. I can see
nothing in our lives that deserves such punishment. Heaven knows best.
Why we have met and loved, only to undergo such anguish, is a puzzle I
cannot solve. There is only one thing plain to me, and that is that we
must part."
He never forgot how she sprang away from him, her colorless face raised
to his.
"Part, Norman!" she cried. "We cannot part now; I am your wife!"
"I know it; but we must part."
"Part!" repeated the girl. "We cannot; the tie that binds us cannot be
sundered so easily."
"My poor Madaline, it must be."
She caught his hand in hers.
"You are jesting, Norman. We cannot be separated--we are one. Do you
forget the words--'for better for worse,' 'till death us do part?'--You
frighten me!" And she shrank from him with a terrible shudder.
"It must be as I have said," declared the unhappy man. "I have been
deceived--so have you. We have to suffer for another's sin."
"We may suffer," she said, dully, "but we cannot part. You cannot send
me away from you.
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