When he looked up she was sitting with her hands rigidly clasped in
her lap: her face was very pale.
"There it is, Ruth," he said; "we are one heart and one soul.
Could he love, and not I? You cannot decide between us, for one is
the other. If I had known you first, Jonathan would be now in my
place. What follows, then?"
"No marriage," she whispered.
"No!" he answered; "we brothers must learn to be two men instead of
one. You will partly take my place with Jonathan; I must live with
half my life, unless I can find, somewhere in the world, your other
half."
"I cannot part you, David!"
"Something stronger than you or me parts us, Ruth. If it were
death, we should bow to God's will: well, it can no more be got
away from than death or judgment. Say no more: the pattern of all
this was drawn long before we were born, and we cannot do any
thing but work it out."
He rose and stood before her. "Remember this, Ruth," he said; "it
is no blame in us to love each other. Jonathan will see the truth
in my face when we meet, and I speak for him also.
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