"There must be no second mistake. In saying that love,
and love alone, brought you back, you are admitting, are you not, that
you were talking wildly about loss of pride and honour? You did the
loveliest thing you have ever done when you came back. If I were you,
my character would be ruined from this hour--I should feel so proud of
myself."

She smiled at that, and fondled his hand. "If you think so," she said,
"all is well."

But he would not leave it thus. "You must think so also," he insisted;
and when she still shook her head, "Then I am proud of your love no
longer," said he, doggedly. "How proud of it I have been! A man
cannot love a woman without reverencing her, without being touched to
the quick a score of times a day by the revelations she gives of
herself--revelations of such beauty and purity that he is abashed in
her presence. The unspoken prayers he offers up to God at those times
he gives to her to carry. And when such a one returns his love, he is
proud indeed. To me you are the embodiment of all that is fair in
woman, and it is love that has made you so, that has taken away your
little imperfections--love for me. Ah, Grizel, I was so proud to think
that somehow I had done it; but even now, in the moment when your love
has manifested itself most splendidly, you are ashamed of it, and what
I respect and reverence you for most are changes that have come about
against your will. If your love makes you sorrowful, how can I be
proud of it? Henceforth it will be my greatest curse."

She started up, wringing her hands. It was something to have got her
to her feet.

"Surely," he said, like one puzzled as well as pained by her
obtuseness, "you see clearly that it must be so. True love, as I
conceive it, must be something passing all knowledge, irresistible;
something not to be resented for its power, but worshipped for it;
something not to fight against, but to glory in. And such is your
love; but you give the proof of it with shame, because your ideal of
love is a humdrum sort of affection. That is all you would like to
feel, Grizel, and because you feel something deeper and nobler you say
you have lost your self-respect. I am the man who has taken it from
you. Can I ever be proud of your love again?"

He paused, overcome with emotion. "What it has been to me!" he cried.
"I walked among my fellows as if I were a colossus. It inspired me at
my work. I felt that there was nothing great I was not capable of