"Oh, Harry!"--she burst into tears. "I cannot--I cannot. You ask me to
be a liar and a thief--oh! heavens!--a vile thief!
"It is too late, Iris! We are all vile thieves. It is too late to begin
crying now."
"Harry"--she threw herself upon her knees--"spare me! Let some other
woman go, and call herself your widow. Then I will go away and hide
myself."
"Don't talk nonsense, Iris," he replied roughly. "I tell you it is far
too late. You should have thought of this before. It is now all
arranged."
"I cannot go," she said.
"You must go; otherwise, all our trouble may prove useless."
"Then I will not go!" she declared, springing to her feet. "I will not
degrade myself any further. I will not go!"
Harry rose too. He faced her for a moment. His eyes dropped. Even he
remembered, at that moment, how great must be the fall of a woman who
would consent to play such a part.
"You shall not go," he said, "unless you like. You can leave me to the
consequences of my own acts--to my own degradation. Go back to England.
In one thing only spare me. Do not tell what you know. As for me, I
will forge a letter from you--"
"Forge a letter!"
"It is the only way left open, giving the lawyers authority to act, and
inclosing the will. What will happen next? By whose hands the money is
to reach me I know not yet. But you can leave me, Iris. Better that you
should leave me--I shall only drag you lower."
"Why must you forge the letter? Why not come with me somewhere--the
world is large!--to some place where you are not known, and there let
us begin a new life? We have not much money, but I can sell my watches
and chains and rings, and we shall have enough. O Harry! for once be
guided--listen to me! We shall find some humble manner of living, and
we may be happy yet. There is no harm done if you have only pretended
to be dead; nobody has been injured or defrauded--"
"Iris, you talk wildly! Do you imagine, for one moment, that the doctor
will release me from my bargain?"
"What bargain?"
"Why--of course he was to be paid for the part he has taken in the
business. Without him it could never have been done at all."