‘ “Have you nothing to say to me? Have you no love for me?”
‘ “A little bit.”
‘ “I am not to be tortured; I will not even play at present.”
‘ “I don’t want to play; I want to go.”
‘ “I wonder you dare speak of going at this moment. You go! What, with my heart in your hand, to lay it on your toilet and pierce it with your pins? From my presence you do not stir, out of my reach you do not stray, till I receive a hostage—pledge for pledge— your heart for mine.”
‘ “The thing you want is mislaid—lost some time since: let me go and seek it.”
‘ “Declare that it is where your keys often are—in my possession.”
‘ “You ought to know. And where are my keys, Mr. Moore? Indeed and truly, I have lost them again; and Mrs. Gill wants some money, and I have none, except this sixpence.”
‘She took the coin out of her apron-pocket, and showed it in her palm. I could have trifled with her; but it would not do: life and death were at stake. Mastering at once the sixpence and the hand that held it, I demanded:
‘ “Am I to die without you, or am I to live for you?”
‘ “Do as you please; far be it from me to dictate your choice.”
‘ “You shall tell me with your own lips, whether you doom me to exile, or call me to hope.”
‘ “Go. I can bear to be left.”
‘ “Perhaps I, too, can bear to leave you; but reply, Shirley, my pupil, my sovereign—reply.”
‘ “Die without me if you will. Live for me if you dare.”
‘ “I am not afraid of you, my leopardess: I dare live for and with you, from this hour till my death. Now, then, I have you: you are mine; I will never let you go. Wherever my home be, I have chosen my wife. If I stay in England, in England you will stay; If I cross the Atlantic, you will cross it also; our lives are riveted, our lots intertwined.”
‘ “And are we equal, then, sir? Are we equal at last?”
‘ “You are younger, frailer, feebler, more ignorant than I.”
‘ “Will you be good to me, and never tyrannize?”
‘ “Will you let me breathe, and not bewilder me? You must not smile at present. The world swims and changes round me. The sun is a dizzying scarlet blaze, the sky a violet vortex whirling over me.”
‘I am a strong man, but I staggered as I spoke. All creation was exaggerated; colour grew more vivid, motion more rapid, life itself more vital. I hardly saw her for a moment; but I heard her voice—pitilessly sweet. She would not subdue one of her charms in compassion; perhaps she did not know what I felt.
‘ “You name me leopardess; remember, the leopardess is tameless,” said she.
‘ “Tame or fierce, wild or subdued, you are mine.”