"Will you go with me to America--love or no love? I cannot stay here--I
will not stay here."
"I will go with you wherever you please. I should like not to run
risks. There are still people whom it would pain to see Iris Henley
tried and found guilty with two others on a charge of fraudulent
conspiracy."
"I wouldn't accustom myself, if I were you, Iris, to speak of things
too plainly. Leave the thing to me and I will arrange it. See now, we
will travel by a night train from Brussels to Calais. We will take the
cross-country line from Amiens to Havre; there we will take boat for
New York--no English people ever travel by the Havre line. Once in
America we will push up country--to Kentucky or somewhere--and find
that quiet country place: after that I ask no more. I will settle down
for the rest of my life, and have no more adventures. Do you agree,
Iris?"
"I will do anything that you wish," she replied coldly.
"Very well. Let us lose no time. I feel choked here. Will you go into
Brussels and buy a Continental Bradshaw or a Baedeker, or something
that will tell us the times of sailing, the cost of passage, and all
the rest of it? We will take with us money to start us with: you will
have to write to your bankers. We can easily arrange to have the money
sent to New York, and it can be invested there--except your own
fortune--in my new name. We shall want no outfit for a fortnight at
sea. I have arranged it all beautifully. Child, look like your old
self." He took an unresisting hand. "I want to see you smile and look
happy again."
"You never will."
"Yes--when we have got ourselves out of this damnable, unwholesome way
of life; when we are with our fellow-creatures again. You will forget
this--this little business--which was, you know, after all, an unhappy
necessity."
"Oh! how can I ever forget?"
"New interests will arise; new friendships will be formed--"
"Harry, it is myself that I cannot forgive. Teach me to forgive myself,
and I will forget everything."
He pressed her no longer.
"Well, then," he said, "go to Brussels and get this information. If you
will not try to conquer this absurd moral sensitiveness--which comes
too late--you will at least enable me to place you in a healthier
atmosphere."
"I will go at once," she said, "I will go by the next train."