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“You certainly are a mysterious pair,” said Rowton with a laugh which echoed painfully in the old room. “Just whisper to me what the purpose was, Nance.”

She hesitated for a moment, then bending forward whispered a single word in his ear.

His ruddy, dark face changed colour when she spoke, for quite a moment he was silent.

“Your father has made a mistake,” he said; then gravely, “such a purpose turns round and crushes the man who holds it in his grasp. His own fell purpose will kill your father. You must drop it from your life, Nancy. Your little sunshiny face was never meant for shadow or sorrow; you have lived too long in the gloom; turn now to the sunshine of our mutual love.”

“Oh!” she answered, her voice coming out with a sort of strangled sob, “I love you beyond words.”

“To please me, try and put it into words, Nan,” he asked; he gathered her close to his heart as he spoke.

“My love is wide as the world and deep as hell,” she replied; “stronger than death, and I think, I think, it could reach even to the heavens.”