Do you think that I am hard-hearted? I am so lonely that
the affection even of a dog or a bird would be a temptation to me, if it
was a thing that I dared not accept, because it would make me weaker to
live the life that is right. That is the way we must tell what is right
or wrong."
In spite of himself, he gathered comfort from the fact that, pausing
here, without adequate reason that was apparent, she took for granted
that the friendship he offered would be a source of weakness to her.
She never stooped to try to appear reasonable. As she had been speaking,
a new look had been coming out of the habitual calmness of her face, and
now, in the pause, the calm went suddenly, and there was a flash of fire
in her eyes that he had never seen there before:
"If I were starving, would you come and offer me bread that you knew I
ought not to eat? It would be cruel." She rose up suddenly, and he stood
before her. "It is cruel of you to tantalize me with thoughts of
happiness because you know I must want it so much. I could not live and
not want it. Go! you are doing a cowardly thing. You are doing what the
devil did when our Lord was in the wilderness. But He did not need the
bread He was asked to take, and I do not need your friendship. Go!"
She held out the hand--the hand that had so often beckoned to him in
play--and pointed him to the door.
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