ich I could never
forget."

"Miss Gordon is a very noble woman, kinder to all the world than to
herself; but did gratitude to her involve sacrifice of me?"

"You were betrothed. I owed it to her, to keep you loyal to your vows,
as far as my power extended. I tried faithfully to guard her happiness,
while endeavoring to shield my brother."

"Knowing you had all my heart, you dared not let me learn that the
rival existed only in my imagination? loyal soul! Did you deem it a
kindness to aid in binding her to an unloving husband? Her womanly
instincts saved her from that death in life; and years ago, she set us
both free. She wears no willows, let me tell you; and those who should
know best, think that before very long she will sail for Europe as wife
of Governor Glenbeigh, the newly appointed minister to Z---, a
brilliant position, which she will nobly grace. She will be happier as
Glenbeigh's wife than I could possibly have made her; for he loves her
as she deserves to be loved. So, for Miss Gordon's sake, you immolated
me?"

Only the pathetic piping of the lonely bird made answer.

Like the premonitory thrill that creeps through forest leaves, before
the coming burst of a tempest, he seemed to tremble slightly; his tone
had a rising ring, and a dark flush stained his swarthy face, deepened
the color in his brilliant eyes.

"Oh, my white rose! A wonderful fragrance of hope steals into the air;
a light breaks upon my dreary world that makes me giddy! Can it be
possible that you--"

He paused, and she covered her face with her hands.

"Beryl, you are the only woman I have ever loved. You came suddenly
into my life, as an irresistible incarnation of some fateful witchery
that stole and fired my heart, subverted all my plans, made havoc of
lifelong hopes, dominated my will, changed my nature; overturned the
cool selfishness on the altar of my worship, and set up your own image
in a temple, swept, garnished, and sanctified forever by your
in-dwelling. You have cost me stinging humiliation, years of regret, of
bitter disappointment; and the ceaselessly gnawing pain of a jealous
dread that despite my vigilance, another man might some day possess
you. I have money, influence, professional success, gratified ambition,
and enviable social eminence; I have all but that which a man wants
most, the one woman in the great wide world whom he loves truly, loves
better than he loves himself; and who holds his heart in the hollow