Page:Carroll - Sylvie and Bruno Concluded.djvu/69

II] pained to the heart at seeing the bitter trial that had come upon this pure and gentle soul, I strove in vain to see my way through the tangled skein of conflicting motives.

"If she loves him truly," (I seemed at last to grasp the clue to the problem) "is not that, for her, the voice of God? May she not hope that she is sent to him, even as Ananias was sent to Saul in his blindness, that he may receive his sight?" Once more I seemed to hear Arthur whispering "What knowest thou, O wife, whether thou shalt save thy husband?" and I broke the silence with the words "If you still love him truly"

"I do not!" she hastily interrupted. "At leastnot in that way. I believe I loved him when I promised; but I was very young: it is hard to know. But, whatever the feeling was, it is dead now. The motive on his side is love: on mine it isDuty!"

Again there was a long silence. The whole skein of thought was tangled worse than ever. This time she broke the silence. "Don't misunderstand me!" she said. "When I said my heart was not his, I did not mean it was any