`` There is nothing to forgive , '' she said steadily . `` I have been as much to blame as you . If I had been as resolute as I ought to have been -- if I had sent you away the second time as I did the first -- this would not have come to pass . I have been weak too , and I deserve to atone for my weakness by suffering . There is only one path open to us . Esterbrook , good-bye . '' Her voice quivered with an uncontrollable spasm of pain , but the misty , mournful eyes did not swerve from his . The man stepped forward and caught her in his arms . `` Magdalen , good-bye , my darling . Kiss me once -- only once -- before I go . '' She loosened his arms and stepped back proudly . `` No ! No man kisses my lips unless he is to be my husband . Good-bye , dear . '' He bowed his head silently and went away , looking back not once , else he might have seen her kneeling on the damp sand weeping noiselessly and passionately . * * * * * Marian Lesley looked at his pale , determined face the next evening and read it like an open book . She had grown paler herself ; there were purple shadows under the sweet violet eyes that might have hinted of her own sleepless nights . She greeted him calmly , holding out a steady , white hand of welcome . She saw the traces of the struggle through which he had passed and knew that he had come off victor . The knowledge made her task a little harder .
It would have been easier XXXXX let slip the straining cable than to cast it from her when it lay unresistingly in her hand .
If as from in like of that through to unless