"Leo!" she almost screamed, and then stood for a moment speechless, overpowered by anger. She laid her clenched hand upon her heart, as if she had received a stab. "Surely you do not estimate the full meaning of your hasty words," she said, slowly and emphatically. "I will regard them only as they call for this reply from me. If we do not set out upon our tour to-morrow, before further revelations are made as to Römer’s affairs,—and surely no one can take it amiss of us that we quietly carry out plans so long decided upon,—our union must be indefinitely postponed."
He made no reply, but stood motionless in his former position, looking from the window. His silence evidently irritated her further: passion gleamed in her large gray eyes.
"I said before that I am willing to yield the first place in your heart to your practice, to your devotion to your profession," she went on, with increasing emphasis, "but I will not yield one jot of my rights to other women,—remember that, Leo! I cannot see why I should be forced to struggle through the fearful crash that must come here, with grandmamma and my sisters, when I have the right to flee to the calm protection of the home you have promised me. Can I do anything to alter the state of affairs? Nothing whatever. Why, then, do you wish to consign me to needless suffering? Must I too be an object for universal compassion? I would sooner depart on the instant. I _will not_ be pointed at and pitied."
She paced the room in agitation. "You have not the faintest excuse to make me for remaining here," she said, standing at a distance from him, frowning darkly, when she had waited in vain for a reply. "You cannot even plead the necessity here for your professional aid. You would have had to leave Henriette to her fate; and as for Kitty, you will not assert that the scratch on her forehead which you yourself declared to be trifling demands all your medical skill. To tell the truth, I could scarcely suppress a laugh last night at your aunt’s conduct and your own. It is allowable for Henriette to shed childish tears over a few drops of blood,—she is weak and nervous,—but for you to behave as if our youngest, the robust child of a race of peasants, were framed of snow and air——" She paused at the menacing look that Leo turned upon her as he raised his finger, unable longer to control the expression of his indignation.