you love Ruth very much, Roger?" asked mother.

"Love her!" I cried, "love her! I would die for her."

"And she loves Wilfred, and would never be happy away from him."

I fought it down after a while; crushed all my envy, jealousy, and
hatred--for hate did possess me for a time--and then turned to my
mother again.

"Let Ruth and Wilfred be happy," I said, "I shall put in no claim, her
happiness is more important than mine."

"They cannot," said my mother.

"Cannot!" I cried. "Why?"

"Because it was her father's wish that she should marry Trewinion's
heir, and she will do it, though she dies the next day."

"I do not understand."

"You know how much she has ever thought of her father. No one I ever
saw loved a parent, or a parent's memory, as much as she loved her
father's. And now, although she would have to sacrifice everything
dear to her heart, she will be true to his wish."

"But I will not have it so. I will not call for the sacrifice."

"Then you are hindering her father's wish from being fulfilled, and you
will still be keeping Ruth and Wilfred apart."

"But what can I do?"

My mother was silent.

Then I saw her meaning. My very existence was the great evil. I was
Trewinion's heir, whom her father wished her to marry, and yet she
hated the thought of it; while she could not marry the man she loved
because of her father's will. Meanwhile she was suffering a terrible
torture--and I was causing it.

I tried to look at the whole matter fairly and boldly. What were the
alternatives? I was Roger Trewinion's eldest son, and if I allowed my
father's and Mr. Morton's will to be carried out, I doomed my darling
to a loathsome life--a living death, while, though I should attain the
object most dear to me, I should live in hell, the hell of being with a
woman who loved another man. If I refused to marry her, things would
be nearly as bad. I should still be dooming her to misery; she would
not marry my brother, I should never be free from the thought that I
was keeping others from happiness, while the two houses of Trewinion
and Morton would not be united.

Slowly it came at first! Then the full meaning of the thought flashed
upon me! I could not do it, I could not! And yet it was the only way.

Renounce my name, my possessions, my identity! Go away and never
return!

That was the alternative, the only way by which the houses could be
united, the only way Ruth could be happy.

"I see