"Back!" she said, holding up her hand as if to keep him away; "not a
step nearer. And what if I am Valmai? What is she to you after all
these months of cruel neglect?"
Cardo stood still. Was this the meeting he had pictured to himself a
thousand times? Had her troubles unhinged her mind? Was she
distraught?
"What is it, Valmai, my darling, that has changed you so? What is that
cold, haughty look on your face? I am Cardo, dearest--your own Cardo!
come back to explain everything to you, and to clasp you in his loving
arms," and again he approached as if to embrace her.
"Stand back," said Gwladys once more. "If you come a step nearer, I
will call for help from the house."
"No, no," said Cardo, "do not do that. I will obey you, dearest; but
tell me what is the meaning of this change in you? Oh, Valmai! has
your love indeed perished? Have you forgotten the happy past, the
walks by the Berwen, the fortnight at Fordsea? I have been ill,
dearest--have lain unconscious for months in a hospital; but I swear
that, from the moment I left you until now, every conscious thought,
every fibre of my being, every chord of memory has been faithful to
you, and to you alone! Come and sit on this bench. Five minutes will
explain all to you, and I will not believe that my Valmai can have
become the cold and heartless girl you seem to be."
But Gwladys continued standing, and looking at him with eyes in which
scorn and contempt were but too plainly visible.
"Good heavens, Valmai!" said Cardo, with clenched hands, the cold sweat
breaking out on his face; "do you remember it is a man's very soul you
are trifling with? Do you know what a man's heart is? what his love
means--such love as mine?"
"Such love as yours!" said Gwladys coldly. "Such love, indeed! that
could lead an innocent girl into the path of deceit and dishonour; that
could leave her then to bear desertion and the cold scorn of the world,
alone and friendless; and now to return, and expect to find her
unchanged and still blinded to the truth!"
"Valmai!" said Cardo, his hot Welsh blood suffusing his dark face with
passion, "you could never have loved me. Do the strong bonds that
united us count for nothing? Does that little green mound in the
churchyard count for nothing? No! you never could have loved me; and
yet--you did!"
"If I ever did," said Gwladys, "the love is dead. I feel no more
interest in you now than I do in yonder ploughman."
"Girl, you are my wife," said Cardo, who was trembling with a mixture
of anger and wounded love. "You are mine by every law of God and man,
and I will not let you go." Then suddenly changing into a tone of
excited entreaty, he said, "Come, darling, trust me once more, and I
will bring back the light of love into those frozen eyes, and I will
kiss back warmth into those haughty lips."