At
last he spoke.
"Do you believe that husbands and wives should have no secrets from one
another?" he asked abruptly.
Diana had never really given the matter consideration--never formulated
such a question in her mind. But now, in the light of love's
awakening; she instinctively knew the answer to it. Her opinion leaped
into life fully formed; she was aware, without the shadow of a doubt,
of her own feelings on the subject.
"Certainly they shouldn't," she answered promptly. "Why, Max, that
would be breaking the very link that binds them together--their
_oneness_ each with the other. You think that, too, don't you?
Why--why did you ask me?" A premonition of evil assailed her, and her
voice trembled a little.
"I asked you because--because if you marry me you will have to face the
fact that there is a secret in my life which I cannot share with
you--something I can't tell you about." Then, as he saw the blank look
on her face, he went on rapidly: "It will be the only thing, beloved.
There shall be nothing else in life that will not be 'ours,' between
us, shared by us both. I swear it! . . . Diana, I must make you
understand. It was because of this--this secret--that I kept away from
you. You couldn't understand--oh! I saw it in your face sometimes.
You were hurt by what I did and said, and it tortured me to hurt
you--to see your lip quiver, your eyes suddenly grow misty, and to know
it was I who had wounded you, I, who would give the last drop of blood
in my body to save you pain.
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