'
She looked into his glowing eyes, and struggled a little, murmuring
incoherently.
'Never, Chris, never!' he continued. 'You love me! Look into my face an'
deny it if you can. You can't!' he cried, with a flush of triumph.
'I have never denied it, Harry; but I must go. 'Tis because I love you--'
He laughed suddenly with the elation of a conqueror, and stopped her
mouth with kisses.
'You love me, an' you'd leave me. Why? Tell me why, my darling, my dear
love!'
She threw back her head and gazed into his eyes. 'I will tell you,' she
said. 'I would leave you because I am the daughter of Ephraim Shine, the
man whose memory is hated everywhere; the man whose crimes you and yours
can never forget; the man who sent your innocent brother to prison, who
whitened your mother's hair with grief, who left you to die in the waters
of the mine--who was a triple thief and a hypocrite. He was my father and
I loved him. I cannot do anything else but love him now, but you must
hate and loathe him. Think of me as your wife--me, the thief's daughter,
whispered about, pointed at. Think, as I have done, of that possible time
when you might love me less because of him and the wrong he did you, when
you might be ashamed to be seen with me. People don't forget crimes like
his, Harry; they talk of them to their children. Think of your mother and
your brother.
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