"
She drew up her slender figure to its full height, her lovely face
glowed with a light he did not understand.
"You may be quite right," she said. "I cannot dispute what you say. Your
honor may be a sufficient reason for throwing aside the wife of less
than twelve hours, but I cannot see it. I cannot refute what you have
said, but my heart tells me you are wrong."
"Would to Heaven that I thought the same!" he rejoined, quickly. "But I
understand the difficulties of the case, my poor Madaline, and you do
not."
She turned away with a low, dreary sigh, and the light died from her
face.
"Madaline," said Lord Arleigh, quietly, "do not think, my darling, that
you suffer most--indeed, it is not so. Think how I love you--think how
precious you are to me--and then ask yourself if it is no pain to give
you up."
"I know it is painful," she continued, sadly, "but, Norman, if the
decision and choice rested with me as they do with you, I should act
differently."
"I would, Heaven knows, if I could," he said, slowly.
"Such conduct is not just to me," she continued, her face flushing with
the eagerness of her words.
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