elf!"

"Ah! it's too distressin'!"

They, too, thought him unsound, and did n't want him; but to save the
situation they would be glad to keep him. She did n't want him, but
she refused to lose her right to say, "Commoner girls may break their
promises; I will not!" He sat down at the table between the candles,
covering his face. His grief and anger grew and grew within him. If she
would not free herself, the duty was on him! She was ready without love
to marry him, as a sacrifice to her ideal of what she ought to be!

But she had n't, after all, the monopoly of pride!

As if she stood before him, he could see the shadows underneath her eyes
that he had dreamed of kissing, the eager movements of her lips. For
several minutes he remained, not moving hand or limb. Then once more
his anger blazed. She was going to sacrifice herself and--him! All his
manhood scoffed at such a senseless sacrifice. That was not exactly what
he wanted!

He went to the bureau, took a piece of paper and an envelope, and wrote
as follows:

There never was, is not, and never would have been any question of
being bound between us. I refuse to trade on any such thing. You are
absolutely free. Our engagement is at an end by mutual consent.

RICHARD SHELTON.

He sealed it, and, sitting with his hands between his knees, he let
his forehead droop lower and lower to the table, till it rested on his
marriage settlement. And he had a feeling of relief, like one who drops
exhausted at his journey's end.

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