I believe I could bear it better. There's Jack he was
awfully sweet on her in London, but he has only been to see her once
since. He is too poor to marry, and there is no one else--yes, by Jove,
there is!" and Neil started to his feet. "There is Grey Jerrold. He is
just the man for Bessie to fall in love with if she could see him, and
I'll bring that about."
It may seem strange that one so utterly selfish as Neil McPherson should
have devised this plan to help him in his dilemma, but this in fact was
only another phase of his selfishness. He knew it was impossible for him
to marry Bessie, and felt that it was also impossible to give her up
without other aid than his own feeble will. If she could prefer some one
else to himself, it would be a help, however much his self-love might be
wounded, and if another than himself must taste the sweetness he so
coveted he would far rather that other should be Grey Jerrold, an
American, even though he bore the rose away to foreign soil, than to
have one of his own countrymen flaunting his happiness in his face,
Bessie and Grey were suited to each other, he thought, and he would
bring them together; so, when he heard from Grey of his intended trip to
Carnarvon, he suggested that he defer it until the holidays and spend a
day or two at Stoneleigh.
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