Soon after his departure,
however, she had to encounter the appalling fact that the dread moment was
on its way when she would no longer be able to conceal the change in her
condition. Her first and last thought was then, how to protect the good
name of her lover, and avoid involving him in the approaching ruin of her
reputation. With this in view she vowed to God and to her own soul
absolute silence with regard to the past: James's name even should never
pass her lips! Nor did she find the vow hard to keep, even when her aunt
took measures to draw her secret from her; but the dread lest in her pains
she should cry out for the comfort which James alone could give her,
almost drove her to poison, from which only the thought of his coming child
restrained her. Enabled at length only by the pure inexorability of her
hour, she passed through her sorrow and found herself still alive, with her
lips locked tight on her secret. The poor girl who was weak enough to
imperil her good name for love of a worthless man, was by that love made
strong to shield him from the consequences of her weakness.
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