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125 now. But her eyes held mine with the determination to wrest from them the last truth they might contain, and her voice trembled with doubt:

“Would you put the red-bird in a cage for me? Would you be willing to do that for me, Adam?”

At those whimsical, cruel words I shall never be able to reveal all that I felt—the surprise, the sorrow, the pain. Scenes of boyhood flashed through my memory. A conscience built up through years of experience stood close by me with admonition. I saw the love on her face, the hope with which she hung upon my reply, as though it would decide everything between us. I did not hesitate; my hands dropped to my side, the warmth died out of my heart as out of spent ashes, and I answered her, with cold reproach,

“I—will—not!”