n
suddenly she lifted her white face to his, showing him such an anguish of
suffering as he had not suspected.

"Oh, Edward," she said, "why did this have to happen? We were so
happy before."

That pierced him--the utter desolation of her--the pain that was too deep
for reproach. He bent to her, all the bitterness gone from his face.

"My dear," he said in a voice that shook, "can't you see how I loathe
myself--for hurting you--like this?"

And then suddenly--so suddenly that neither knew exactly how it
happened--they were linked together. She was clinging to him with a rush
of piteous tears, and he was kneeling beside her, holding her fast
pressed against his heart, murmuring over her brokenly, passionately,
such words of tenderness as she had never heard from him before. When in
the end she lifted her face to kiss him, it was wet with tears other than
her own, and somehow that fact did more to ease her own distress than any
consolation he could find to offer.

She slipped her arm about his neck and pressed her cheek to his. "I'm
thankful I know," she told him tremulously. "Oh, Edward darling,
don't--don't keep anything from me ever again! If I'd only known sooner,
things might have been so different. I feel as if I have never known you
till now."

"Have you forgiven me?" he said, his grey head bent.

She turned her lips again to his. "My dear, of course--of course!"
And in a lower voice, "Will you--tell me about her? Did she mean very
much to you?"

His arm tightened about her. "My darling, it's nearly twenty-three years
ago that she died. Yes, I loved her. But I've never wanted her back. Her
life was such an inferno." He paused a moment, then as she was silent
went on more steadily. "She was eighteen and I was twenty-two when it
began. I was home for a summer vacation, and she had just come to help
her aunt as infant teacher at the school. All the men were wild about
her, but she had no use for any of 'em till I come along. We met along
the shore or on the cliffs. We met constantly. We loved each other like
mad. It got beyond all reason--all restraint. We didn't look ahead,
either of us. We were young, and it was so infernally sweet. I'm not
offering any excuse--only telling you the simple truth. You won't
understand of course."

She pressed closer to him. "Why shouldn't I understand?"

He leaned his head against her. "God bless you, my dear! You're very good
to me--far better than I deserve. I was a bla