at once—because this could not go on—because you must go away and—"
"Necessary?" he repeated. "I—I do not understand."
"No," she said helplessly; "you do not understand—and I—I cannot explain. Oh, I do not know what to say to you, only that you must take what I say, as you have taken me—at face value."
"I do not understand," he said again. "Helena, I do not understand. Are you in trouble—tell me?"
"No," she said.
"But I cannot go away like this!" he cried out suddenly. "I cannot go and leave you, Helena. You have come into my life and filled it; and I cannot let you pass out of it—like this—without an effort to hold what has come to mean everything to me now. You may not love me now, but some day—"
She shook her head, interrupting him once more.
"There can never be a 'some day'" she said. "Oh, I do not want to hurt you—you, to whom I owe more than you will ever know—but—but there can never be anything between us, and—and we are only making it harder for ourselves now—aren't we?"
And then he leaned abruptly toward her.
"Is there—some one else?" he asked in a strained voice.
And to Helena the question came as though
