"I have no right to force your confidence. If you choose to confide in me, I may be able to do as I have said."
"I will tell you everything unreservedly," said Gerald, "on the understanding that it does not pass your lips to another person."
"Let it be so," said the doctor, after a little pause, "for the young lady's sake."
"It is for her sake," said Gerald, "that I exact the pledge of secrecy."
Then he began the story, and related it faithfully, down to the smallest detail. It occupied him some time, but the doctor did not once interrupt him, but kept his eyes fixed upon Gerald's face, his own growing brighter and brighter as the young man proceeded. The story finished, there was silence for a minute or two, during which the doctor sat with his head resting in his hand.
"Is there hope, doctor?" cried Gerald, the first to speak. "Tell me, is there hope?"
"There is," replied the doctor, removing his hand. "The road is open to you if you will take it."
"Does it, then, depend upon me?" exclaimed Gerald.
"Upon you, and upon no other man. It is my firm belief that from the moment you take her in your arms and whisper the word, 'Wife,' the cure will be commenced. The windows of her mind, of her heart, will be opened for the light, and it will shine upon her soul, which will leap up exultant in the knowledge that she stands purified in her own eyes and in the eyes of the world. The stain that now lies upon her, the heartless, merciless, unjust degradation which has been forced upon her, have weighed her down, have clouded her mind. And let me tell you that God has been merciful in this visitation. Had she recovered her reason, and with her reason, the consciousness of her shame, she might have gone mad from the horror of it. She is in your hands now, not in mine."
He spoke solemnly, but no less solemnly than Gerald when he said, "As I deal by her, may I be dealt by! how can I atone quickly for the unconscious suffering I have inflicted upon her? Is a marriage in church possible?"
"In her present state I fear not," said the doctor, "and I consider it vital that there should be no delay, for she is sinking into melancholia, from which she would never emerge. The registry office is open to you, and a marriage there is as binding as a marriage at the altar."