"Mrs. Ransome has already told me," said I. "Who do you think unlocked the door of her retreat? I, Humphrey. I wanted to save you from yourself, and she understands me. She will never reveal the secret of the years she has passed overhead."
Would he hate me? Would he love me? Would he turn that fatal weapon on me, or level it again toward his own breast? For a moment I could not tell; then the white horror in his face broke up, and, giving me a look I shall never forget till I die, he fell prostrate on his knees and lowered his proud head before me.
I did not touch it, but from that moment the schooling of our two hearts began, and, though I can never look upon my husband with the frank joy I see in other women's faces, I have learned not to look upon him with distrust, and to thank God I did not forsake him when desertion might have meant the destruction of the one small seed of goodness which had developed in his heart with the advent of a love for which nothing in his whole previous life had prepared him.
FAMOUS AUTHORS AND THEIR BOOKS INCLUDED IN THIS SERIES
ECCENTRIC MR. CLARK
By JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY
Author of "An Old Sweetheart of Mine," etc.
THE PRINCESS ELOPES
By HAROLD MacGRATH
Author of "The Man on the Box," etc.
AS THE HEART PANTETH
By HALLIE ERMINIE RIVES
Author of "The Valiants of Virginia," etc.
ROSALYNDE'S LOVERS
By MAURICE THOMPSON
Author of "Alice of Old Vincennes," etc.
THE HOUSE IN THE MIST
By ANNA KATHARINE GREEN
Author of "The Leavenworth Case," etc.
TROLLEY FOLLY
By HENRY WALLACE PHILLIPS
Author of "Red Saunders," etc.
MOTORMANIACS
By LLOYD OSBOURNE
Author of "A Person of Some Importance," etc.
THE FIFTH STRING
By JOHN PHILIP SOUSA
Author of "Pipetown Sandy," etc.
CHIMES FROM A JESTER'S BELLS
By ROBERT J. BURDETTE
Author of "Old Time and Young Tom," etc.
A GUEST AT THE LUDLOW
By BILL NYE
Author of "Baled Hay," etc.
FOUR IN FAMILY
By FLORIDA POPE SUMERWELL
A FOOL FOR LOVE
By FRANCIS LYNDE
Author of "The Grafters," etc.
Transcriber's Notes:
Added table of contents for ease of navigation
Page 150: "ever eighteen" left as in source ("had I been ever eighteen, ...")
Page 158: "seculsion" changed to "seclusion" ("To my mind, it added an element of pathos to his seclusion, ...")
Page 168: "Vandkye" changed to "Vandyke" ("Mrs. Vandyke received me with effusion.")