r a moment, and then
said:

"Pauline, you did a great many things, but I don't think you ever
willingly deceived me. Did you?"

I shook my head without looking lip.

"Then be careful what you do now, and let the past alone," he said, and
his voice was almost stern.

I trembled, and turned pale.

"Women sometimes play with dangerous weapons," he said; "I don't accuse
you of meaning to give pain, but only of forgetting that some
recollections are not to you what they are to me. I never want to
interfere with any one's comfort or enjoyment; I only want to be let
alone. I do very well, and am not unhappy. About marrying, now or ever,
I should have thought you would have known. But let me tell you once for
all: I haven't any thought of it, and shall not ever have. It is not
that I am holding to any foolish hopes. It would be exactly the same if
you were married, or had died. It simply isn't in my nature to feel the
same way a second time. People are made differently, that is all. I'm
very well contented, and you need never let it worry you."

He was very pale now, and his eyes had an expression I had never seen in
them before.

"Richard," I said, faintly, "I never _have_ deceived you: believe me now
when I tell you, I am sorry from my heart for all that's past."

"You told me so before, and I did forgive you. I forgave you fully, and
have never had a thought that wasn't kind."

"I know it," I said. "But you do not trust me--you don't ever come near
me, or want to see me."

"You do not know what you are talking of," he answered, turning from me.
"I forgive you anything you may have done at any time to give me pain. I
will do everything I can to serve you, in every way I can; only do not
stir up the past, and let me forget the little of it that I can forget."

I burst into tears, and put my hands before my face.

"What is it?" he said, uneasily. "You need not be troubled about me."

Seeing that I did not stop, he said again, "Tell me: is it that that
troubles you?"

I shook my head.

"What is it, then? Something that I do not know about? Pauline, you are
unhappy, and yet you've everything in the world to make you happy. I
often think, there are not many women have as much."

"The poorest of them are better off than I," I said, without raising my
head.

"Then you are ungrateful," he said, "for you have youth, and health, and
money, and everybody likes you. You could choose from all the world."

"No, I co