in the end, it is usually the
diffident man who wins. The innate unselfishness of the noblest type
of woman, causes her to yield more readily to the insistence of her
pity than to the force of her desire. In these cases, marriage and
martyrdom are really--though unconsciously--synonymous; and the same
pure, holy courage which went smiling to the stake, goes smiling to the
altar. Does a martyr's crown await it, in another world? Possibly.
The only perplexing question, in these cases, being: What awaits the
wrecked life of "the other man"?

Christobel Charteris had put her hand to the plough; she would not look
back.

"Little Boy Blue," she said, "you must say 'good-bye' and go. I am
going to marry the Professor quite soon, and I must not see you again.
Say 'good-bye,' Boy dear."

Then the Boy's anguish broke through all bounds. He flung his arms
around her, and hid his face in her lap. A sudden throb of speechless
agony seemed to overwhelm them both, submerging all arguments, all
casuistry, all obligations to others, in a molten ocean of love and
pain.

Then she heard the Boy pray: "O God, give her to me! Give her to me!
O God, give her to me!"

"Hush, Boy," she said; "oh, hush!"

He was silent at once.

Then bending, she gathered him to her, holding his face against her
breast; sheltering him in the tenderness of her arms. He had never
seemed so completely her own Little Boy Blue as in that moment, when
she listened to his hopeless prayer: "O God, give her to me!" This was
the Little Boy Blue who tried to carry cannon-balls; who faced the
world, with sand upon his nose; cloudless faith in his bright eyes;
indomitable courage in his heart. She forgot the man's estate to which
he had attained; she forgot the man's request to which she had given a
final denial. She held him as she had first longed to do, when his
nurse, in unreasonable wrath, shook him on the sands; she rocked him
gently to and fro, as his dead mother might have done, long years ago.
"Oh, my Little Boy Blue, my Little Boy Blue!" she said.

Suddenly she felt the Boy's hot tears upon her neck.

Then, in undreamed of pain, her heart stood still. Then the full
passion of her tenderness awoke, and found voice in an exceeding bitter
cry.

"Oh, I cannot bear it! I cannot bear it! Boy dear, oh, Boy dear, you
shall have all you wish--all--all! ... Do you hear, my Little Boy Blue?
It shall all be for you, darling; all for you! Nobody e