It was so unbearable, that instantly she sought another shelter:
obedience to the letter of the Law--Marriage. To marry her fellow
outlaw seemed to promise both shelter and stability--for in her
confusion she mistook marriage for morality. At once! Never mind if he
were tired of her; never mind if she must humble what she called her
pride, and plead with him to keep his word; never mind anything--
except this dreadful revelation: that no one of us may do that which,
if done by all, would destroy society. Yes; because she had not
understood that, a boy had taken his own life.... Marriage! That was
all she thought of; then, suddenly, she cowered--the feet of the
bearers again.
"I will be married," she said with dry lips, "oh, I will-I _will_!"
And Martha King, looking at her furtively, thought she prayed.
It was not a prayer, it was only a promise. For with the organic
upheaval into her soul of the primal fact of social responsibility,
had come the knowledge of guilt.
_But the Lord was not in the earthquake._
CHAPTER XXV
Benjamin Wright lay in his great bed, that had four mahogany posts
like four dark obelisks. ... He had not spoken distinctly since the
night of his seizure, though in about a fortnight he began to babble
something which nobody could understand. Simmons said he wanted his
birds, and brought two cages and hung them in the window, where the
roving, unhappy eyes could rest upon them.
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