`` No , '' said Cecily . It was all she said . Lucy Ellen 's hands fell to her sides , and the light went out of her face . `` You wo n't ? '' she said hopelessly . Cecily went out . At the door she turned . `` When John Edwards asked me to marry him six years ago , I said no for your sake . To my mind a promise is a promise . But you were always weak and romantic , Lucy Ellen . '' Lucy Ellen made no response . She stood limply on the hearth-rug like a faded blossom bitten by frost . After Cromwell Biron had gone away the next evening , with all his brisk jauntiness shorn from him for the time , Lucy Ellen went up to Cecily 's room . She stood for a moment in the narrow doorway , with the lamplight striking upward with a gruesome effect on her wan face . `` I 've sent him away , '' she said lifelessly . `` I 've kept my promise , Cecily . '' There was silence for a moment . Cecily did not know what to say . Suddenly Lucy Ellen burst out bitterly . `` I wish I was dead ! ''
Then she turned swiftly and ran across the hall XXXXX her own room .
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