Anna sprang to her feet and walked restlessly up and down the room.
Annabel watched her with wide-open, terrified eyes.
"You won't give me away, Anna. He would never recognize me now. You
are much more like what I was then."
Anna stopped in front of her.
"You don't propose, do you," she said quietly, "that I should take
this man for my husband?"
"You can drive him away," Annabel cried. "Tell him that he is mad. Go
and live somewhere else."
"In his present mood," Anna remarked, "he would follow me."
"Oh, you are strong and brave," Annabel murmured. "You can keep him at
arm's length. Besides, it was under false pretences. He told me that
he was a millionaire. It could not be a legal marriage."
"I am very much afraid," Anna answered, "that it was. It might be
upset. I am wondering whether it would not be better to tell your
husband everything. You will never be happy with this hanging over
you."
Annabel moistened her dry lips with a handkerchief steeped in eau de
Cologne.
"You don't know him, Anna," she said with a little shudder, "or you
would not talk like that. He is steeped in the conventions. Every
slight action is influenced by what he imagines would be the opinion
of other people. Anything in the least irregular is like poison to
him. He has no imagination, no real generosity. You might tell the
truth to some men, but never to him."
Anna was thoughtful. A conviction that her sister's words were true
had from the first possessed her.
"Annabel," she said slowly, "if I fight this thing out myself, can I
trust you that it will not be a vain sacrifice? After what you have
said it is useless for us to play with words. You do not love your
husband, you have married him for a position--to escape from--things
which you feared. Will you be a faithful and honest wife? Will you do
your duty by him, and forget all your past follies? Unless, Annabel,
you can----"
"Oh, I will pledge you my word," Annabel cried passionately, "my
solemn word. Believe me, Anna. Oh, you must believe me. I have been
very foolish, but it is over."
"Remember that you are young still, and fond of admiration," Anna
said. "You will not give Sir John any cause for jealousy? You will
have no secrets from him except--concerning those things which are
past?"
"Anna, I swear it!" her sister sobbed.
"Then I will do what I can," Anna promised. "I believe that you are
quite safe. He has had brain fever since, and, as you say, I am more
like what you were then than you yourself are now. I don't think for a
moment that he would recognize you."