I cannot marry you. I
have a husband."
"You can call that unfortunate wretch your
husband! He does not know that he has a wife. He will
not know that he has lost a wife. Come, Dawn--small
one--be not so foolish. You do not know how happy I will
make you. You have never seen me except when I was
tortured with doubts and fears. You do not know what our
life will be together. There shall be everything to make
you forget--everything that thought and love and money
can give you. The man there in the barred room--"
At that I took his dear hands in mine and held them
close as I miserably tried to make him hear what that
small, still voice had told me.
"There! That is it! If he were free, if he were
able to stand before men that his actions might be judged
fairly and justly, I should not hesitate for one single,
precious moment. If he could fight for his rights, or
relinquish them, as he saw fit, then this thing would not
be so monstrous. But, Ernst, can't you see? He is
there, alone, in that dreadful place, quite helpless,
quite incapable, quite at our mercy. I should as soon
think of hurting a little child, or snatching the pennies
from a blind man's cup. The thing is inhuman! It is
monstrous! No state laws, no red tape can dissolve such
a union.
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