"
"No, I know," said Juliet. She rested her arm on the mantelpiece, gravely
watching him. "I've noticed that."
"Noticed it, have you?" He flung her a look as he passed. "You've
never been in love, that's certain, never seriously I mean,--never up
to the neck."
"No, never so deep as that!" said Juliet.
He passed on to the end of the room, and came to a sudden stand before
the window. "I--have!" he said, and his voice came with an odd jerkiness
as if it covered some emotion that he could not wholly control. "I won't
bore you with details. But I loved a woman once--I loved her madly. And
she loved me. But--Fate--came between. She's dead now. Her troubles are
over, and I'm not such a selfish brute as to want her back. Yet I
sometimes think to myself--that if I'd married that woman--I'd have made
her happy, and I'd have been a better man myself than I am to-day." He
swung round restlessly, found her steady eyes upon him, and came back to
her. "The fact of the matter is, Miss Moore," he said, "I was a skunk
ever to marry at all--after that."
"It depends how you look at it," she said gently.
"Don't you look at it that way?" he said, regarding her curiously.
Pages:
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188