"You--you will go with me?" her voice trembling, yet for the first time
exhibiting a trace of interest. "If I go, you will go?"
"Yes, yes; can you suppose I would ever permit you to go alone? Do you
give me your promise?"
She still held her head pressed between the palms of her hands, her
dishevelled hair hanging far below the waist, her dark eyes, wild and
filled with terror, roving about as though seeking to pierce the
surrounding darkness.
"Oh, my God! I don't know!" she cried in a breathless sob. "I don't
know! Why won't you go? Why won't you go, and leave me here with him,
until some one else comes? I cannot understand; my brain is on fire.
But that would be better--yes, yes! Do that. I--I am not afraid of
him."
He caught her outflung hand firmly within his own grasp. She
shuddered, as if the contact were painful, yet made no effort to
escape, her eyes widening as she looked at him.
"No, I will not go one step without you." He held her helpless, his
face grown stern, seeing in this his only hope of influencing her
action. "Can it be you believe me such a cur? Beth, we both
comprehend the wrong this man has done, the evil of his life the
provocation given for such an act as this. He deserved it all. This
is no time for blame. If we desired to aid him, our remaining here now
would accomplish nothing. Others will discover the body and give it
proper care. But, oh, God! do you realize what it will inevitably mean
for us to be discovered here?--the disgrace, the stigma, the
probability of arrest and conviction, the ruthless exposure of
everything? I plead with you to think of all this, and no longer
hesitate. We have no time for that. Leave here with me before it
becomes too late. I believe I know a way out, and there is opportunity
if we move quickly. But the slightest delay may close every avenue for
escape. Beth, Beth, blot out all else, and tell me you will go!"
The intense agony apparent in his voice seemed to break her down
utterly. The tears sprang blinding to her dry eyes, her head bent
forward.
"And," she asked, as if the thought had not yet reached her
understanding, "you will not go without--without me?"
"No; whatever the result, no."
She lifted her face, white, haggard, and looked at him through the mist
obscuring her eyes, no longer wide opened in wildness.
"Then I must go; I must go," she exclaimed, a shudder shaking her from
head to foot; "God help me, I must go!"
A moment she gazed blankly back toward the motionless body on the
ground, the ghastly countenance upturned to the stars, her own face as
white as the dead, one hand pressing back her dark hair. She reeled
from sudden faintness, yet, before he could touch her in support, she
had sunk upon her knees, with head bowed low, the long tresses trailing
upon the ground.