"Well, let him come," said Jessie, drawing a deep breath. "Let him come; I understand myself now."
"You will not accept him then?" I inquired, anxiously.
"Accept him!" she replied, with a calm smile, which told how deep and settled her pride had become, far more clearly than the flashing eye and writhing lip that had startled me a moment before. "You need not fear that, my friend."
"And you do not love him?"
"No, my friend, I do not love him; nor am I sure that he is worthy of any good woman's love."
I clasped my hands in thankfulness. Her words had lifted a painful weight from my bosom.
"Thank God!" I murmured.
She looked at me gratefully, and we parted for the night.