“Marie,” he whispered, and knelt by her side, his hand fumbling for her hand. “Marie, it was cruel. I—I have no excuse to offer you. Where I should have trusted I failed to trust. I loved you—but I was not worthy to love you. Even when I believed you had done that thing, I loved you. I could not tear it out of my heart. There is nothing I can do but tell you how my love failed, and beg you to forgive me if you can. What is gone is gone. I have lost you, and I know the bitterness of loss.”
She turned her face toward him; her eyes were beautiful—softly, tenderly beautiful.
“I—am not lost,” she whispered, “so—so badly that you can’t find me—if you look.”
“Jim, last night I learned something about love. I know what it is. I knew you would learn the truth. All that—I put aside. While I was trying to reach you I put it aside. I knew love would abide, through griefs, through whatever had gone before, whatever was to come. I loved you—would always love you. Do you know, Jim, I had made up my mind to fight for my love? Yes, if others had not proved I did not do that thing, I should have proved it to you myself. Because I—wanted you, Jim. Because I had to have you.”
He clung to her hand, speechless. A ray of glory had fallen upon him, and he was blinded with it.
“Jim,” she said, “you have never kissed me. You aren’t acting like—the Sudden Jim I want for my own.”
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Abner Daniel. By Will N. Harben. Adventures of Gerard. By A. Conan Doyle. Adventures of a Modest Man. By Robert W. Chambers. Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. By A. Conan Doyle. Adventures of Jimmie Dale, The. By Frank L. Packard. After House, The. By Mary Roberts Rinehart. Alisa Paige. By Robert W. Chambers. Alton of Somasco. By Harold Bindloss. A Man’s Man. By Ian Hay. Amateur Gentleman, The. By Jeffery Farnol. Andrew The Glad. By Maria Thompson Daviess. Ann Boyd. By Will N. Harben. Anna the Adventuress. By E. Phillips Oppenheim. Another Man’s Shoes. By Victor Bridges. Ariadne of Allan Water. By Sidney McCall. Armchair at the Inn, The. By F. Hopkinson Smith. Around Old Chester. By Margaret Deland. Athalie. By Robert W. Chambers. At the Mercy of Tiberius. By Augusta Evans Wilson. Auction Block, The. By Rex Beach. Aunt Jane. By Jeanette Lee. Aunt Jane of Kentucky. By Eliza C. Hall. Awakening of Helena Richie. By Margaret Deland.