en me why can I not earn the
rest? I'm nothing now, but everything is possible when one loves with
all his heart and soul and strength. Rose, I will be your hero if a
mortal man can, even though I have to work and wait for years. I'll make
you love me, and be glad to do it. Don't be frightened. I've not lost my
wits I've just found them. I don't ask anything I'll never speak of my
hope, but it is no use to stop me. I must try it, and I will succeed!"

With the last words, uttered in a ringing voice while his face glowed,
his eyes shone, and he looked as if carried out of himself by the
passion that possessed him, Mac abruptly left the room, like one eager
to change words to deeds and begin his task at once.

Rose was so amazed by all this that she sat down trembling a little, not
with fear or anger, but a feeling half pleasure, half pain, and a sense
of some new power subtle, strong, and sweet that had come into her life.
It seemed as if another Mac had taken the place of the one she had
known so long an ardent, ambitious man, ready for any work now that the
magical moment had come when everything seems possible to love. If hope
could work such a marvelous change for a moment, could not happiness
do it for a lifetime? It would be an exciting experiment to try, she
thought, remembering the sudden illumination which made that familiar
face both beautiful and strange.

She could not help wondering how long this unsuspected sentiment
had been growing in his heart and felt perplexed by its peculiar
demonstration, for she had never had a lover like this before. It
touched and flattered her, nevertheless and she could not but feel
honored by a love so genuine and generous, for it seemed to make a
man of Mac all at once, and a manly man, too, who was not daunted by
disappointment but could "hope against hope" and resolve to make her
love him if it took years to do it.

There was the charm of novelty about this sort of wooing, and she tried
to guess how he would set about it, felt curious to see how he would
behave when next they met, and was half angry with herself for not being
able to decide how she ought to act. The more she thought, the more
bewildered she grew, for having made up her mind that Mac was a genius,
it disturbed all her plans to find him a lover, and such an ardent one.
As it was impossible to predict what would come next, she gave up trying
to prepare for it and, tired with vain speculations, carried Dulce