ght we arrived.
I trusted to your ignorance of the country in the matter of postmarks,
and to your femininity to pass the absence of date! Was it selfish of
me to send it? I knew you would be expecting to hear, and it was a
comfort to me to write. Besides, I felt that a moment would come when
it would be a comfort to you, too. You had trained me to understand
that your mind worked in flashes, and that at a glance you could grasp a
situation which would petrify a poor male thing. Remembering this, I
believed--I _hoped_ that at the very moment of discovery you might
remember what I had said, and realise that all was right between us--
always had been right, always would be to the end! I wanted you to
realise that that letter had been written _after_ we had met, and that
my love had changed only to grow deeper."

Katrine sighed; a deep, long-drawn sigh in which was the sound of
immeasurable content.

"Oh, I am glad," she sighed. "I am _glad_! Even at the height of my
love the thought of Jim Blair tugged at my heart. It hurt me to hurt
him. He had wound his life so closely with mine that I couldn't drag
them apart. And a bit of me loved him still, went on loving, and
wanting his love. After having accepted so much, I could never have
been really satisfied to throw him over, even for--_Jim_! I was going
to say for `_you_' but you _are_ Jim, and I can have you both! There's
no one to throw over; no one to be unhappy--"

Katrine paused; in her deep eyes a gleam of laughter awoke and danced.
"There's only one drawback, Captain Bedford--Blair--Jim--John--whatever
you chose to call yourself, and for _that_ you have yourself to blame!"

"I'll bear it. I'll bear anything! What is it now?" asked Jim,
smiling.

"I shall always," replied Katrine demurely, "I shall always feel that I
am married to _two_ men!"

The End.

End of Project Gutenberg's An Unknown Lover, by Mrs. George de Horne Vaizey

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