I Forbid the Banns! — page 126: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

116 ‘*T FORBID THE BANNS 1!” to the level of vegetarians ? Were he and Bertha ready to take their stand by the side of the lady and her hundred cats? Then there was the question of children. Were he and Bertha He turned away from the sunset and walked straight to her side. ‘“ Bertha,” said he in a low voice, but without a falter— “ Bertha, I cannot do it. I cannot do it, because I love you too well.” “Oh, my beloved,” she replied, ‘I know that the measure of your love for me is as the measure of my love for you, therefore I know that we shall not be separated. It is not in your power to leave me now. You and I are powerless to struggle against love—the love that has made us one. You know that we have been made one. You are not the man to fight to the death against love.” “T will not do you this wrong, Bertha,’ saidhe. ‘J will not do you this wrong.” She shook her head and smiled. “T forbid the banns,”’ she whispered. He walked up the deck without another word. It was a curious position for him to be in. Here was Gretchen tempting Faust, and Faust bringing to his aid to resist her all the moral principles which had been inculcated by the schools, anda good many more besides. Would his intimate acquaintance with the moral princi- ples of the schoolmen avail to render her simplicity impo- tent? Would that fascinating simplicity of this Gretchen prevail against the strong morality of this Faust ? It is a terrible spectacle—the struggling of that innocent dove, Gretchen, against the fatal fascination of that seduc- tive Faust ; but how much more terrible is not the spectacle of the artless Gretchen endeavoring to lure Faust on to CORNICE OOOKS (€(0)