"I fear, not, my dear," said the gentleman.
"No sir, I do not," replied the girl after a short struggle. "I am chained to my old life. I loathe and hate it now, but I cannot leave it. I must have gone too far to turn back,—and yet I don't know, for if you had spoken to me so some time ago, I should have laughed it off. But," she said, looking hastily round, "this fear comes over me again. I must go home."
"Home!" repeated the young lady, with great stress upon the word.
"Home, lady," rejoined the girl. "To such a home as I have raised for myself with the work of my whole life. Let us part. I shall be watched or seen. Go, go. If I have done you any service, all I ask is, that you leave me, and let me go my way alone."
"It is useless," said the gentleman with a sigh. "We compromise her safety perhaps by staying here. We may have detained her longer than she expected already."
"Yes, yes," urged the girl. "You have."
