there
is no happier man in the world than I; nay, nor not half so happy. I
feel as though I were king of the world. Now let us talk quietly."

He sat down by her side, and looked steadily into the fire. Outside the
wind wailed its way across the park, but he did not seem to heed it. The
flames from a log of wood in the grate shot up the chimney, and although
he seemed to be gazing at them he did not see them.

"It's all so wonderful!" he said.

"What is, Radford?"

"My happiness. I am not worthy of it. Yes, I have been a bad fellow. No,
I have not been the wild rake about town, my vices have not run in that
direction. But I have been a selfish brute; I've been a fellow without
hope, mercy, or faith. I've cared nothing for others. If a man has stood
in my way I've shoved him aside. I've seen only the worst in life, and
I've acted on what I saw. I was drink-sodden, too. I was a slave to a
vile habit. But for the fact that drink made no visible impression upon
me, I should have been one of those drunken sots that have to be put to
bed every night. I did not believe in God nor man. No, I scorned God,
and religion, and morality, and I sold myself to the devil of my own
selfishness. Yes, I did, I know it. And yet you love me! You, you, of
all women, you!"

"Yes," she replied, and there was an uneasy look in her eyes, "but you
have repented, Radford."

"And if I had not?"

"Then," she said, "I would not have promised to marry you."

"You mean that?"

"Yes, I mean that. I could never truly love a man whom I did not
respect. And I could not respect such a man as you were, no matter how
clever I might think you to be. Even although I might love a bad man, I
would never marry him."

He knew she meant what she said, and while it saddened him, it made him
rejoice also. Yes, she had driven all his old theories to the winds.
Whatever was true with other women, this woman was prompted by true
thoughts, inspired by high ideals.

He was silent for a while.

"Yes," he said presently, "and you are right. What you say is right. And
I want to believe, Olive; sometimes I do, I do now. And I want to be a
good man, yes, a good man. You'll help me, won't you?"

"I'll do all that a woman may, Radford; but only God can make a man
truly good."

"It's wonderful, that Christian story," he said.

"And you believe it, don't you, Radford?"

Again he was silent.

"I will not tell a lie even for you, Olive," he said. "Do I believe?