"But the price he had set upon it! I was to be the comfort of his life to come. And it would have been so, had he not seen and had he not believed. Because another has loved, he has given up that which he has loved himself."
"It was not for my sake."
"But it was for mine. You had come first, and had won my poor heart. I was not worth the winning to either of you."
"It was for me to judge of that."
"Just so. But you do not know his heart. How prone he is to hold by that which he knows he has made his own. I was his own."
"You told him the truth when he came to you."
"I was his own," said Mary, firmly. "Had he bade me never to see you again, I should never have seen you. Had he not gone after you himself, you would never have come back."
"I do not know how that might be."
"It would have been to no good. Having consented to take everything from his hands, I could never have been untrue to him. I tell you that I should as certainly have become his wife, as that girl will become the wife of that young clergyman. Of course I was unhappy."
"Were you, dear?"