Any time I'm
ready--and glad. Just remember that, won't you, because... Well, there!
Good-by, Good-by!"
He hurried away. She stood gazing after him, astonished, a little
frightened, and not a little disturbed and touched. His emotion was so
evident; his attitude toward her engagement was so different from that
which she had anticipated; and there was something in his manner which
she could not understand. He had acted as if he pitied her. Why? It
could not be because she was to marry Malcolm Dunn. If it were that, she
resented his pity, of course. But it could not be that, because he had
given her his blessing. What was it? Was there something else; something
that she did not know and he did? Why was he so kind and forbearing and
patient?
All her old doubts and questionings returned. She had resolutely kept
them from her thoughts, but they had been there, in the background,
always. When, after the long siege, she had at last yielded and said
yes to Malcolm, she felt that that question, at least, was settled. She
would marry him. He was one whom she had known all her life, the son of
the dearest friend she had; he and his mother had been faithful at the
time when she needed friends. As her husband, he would protect her and
give her the affection and companionship she craved.
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