But he knew he should not--knew he could not face the
reality when it came to the point. He was too dependent upon what wealth
would bring him to throw it away for one girl, even if that girl were
Bessie, whom he loved with all the intensity of his selfish
nature--loved so much that for an hour or so after his interview with
his mother, he balanced the two questions, Blanche with ten thousand a
year, or Bessie with nothing. Naturally Blanche turned the scale, and
then to himself, he said:
"I will go to Stoneleigh and live for a few days in Bessie's presence,
and then I will say good-by forever and marry Blanche as mother wishes
me to do. She is not so very bad except for her eyebrows and that horrid
drawl. But Bessie, oh, Bessie, how can I give her up!" and the young
man's heart cried out in pain for the sweet young girl he had loved all
his life, and who, he was sure loved him. To do Neil justice, this was
the bitterest drop in the cup--the knowing that Bessie, too, would
suffer. "She has enough to bear," he said, "without an added drop from
me, I wish she would get in love with some one else and throw me
overboard.
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