"No; I have always felt that that would be too risky a proceeding."
"Well, since this must have been a great trouble to you, and a burden on your mind ever since you went wrong, what circumstance has given rise to your present anxiety?"
"You may well ask, since, but for what has lately arisen, I should not have sought to inflict upon you my life's sad story."
"Out with it then, man, and make an end of the matter!"
"The simple fact is, I have formed what some would consider, in my circumstances, a mad attachment to Jessie Russell."
"No need to be ashamed of that, my boy! She's as fine a girl, and as good a girl, as can be found anywhere this side of the Rockies!"
"That thought, if anything, only increases my difficulty. You see, at present she is quite ignorant as to my past; and my fear is that if I tell her what I feel she ought to know, she will be inclined to despise me, and refuse to listen to me. On the other hand, if the goodness of her heart should prompt her to overlook my past misdeeds, and to favourably consider my suit, the knowledge of my past will only serve to increase her anxiety on my account, and burden her with a load of care which silence on my part might materially lessen. I cannot make up my mind as to what to do."
Ranger refrained from giving any immediate reply, and appeared for a time to be lost in thought. After considerable reflection he said—
"I have no hesitation about the advice I am going to give. There is undoubtedly much force in what you urge, as to the advantages of concealing all that relates to your past life; but I look upon it, that the woman who is to be a man's wife ought to be one he can trust. They should both possess each other's confidence. There should, therefore, be no secrets between them. And especially to begin married life it forms a bad precedent.
"Besides, we none of us know what the future may turn up for any of us; and although what you have told me seems hidden away secure enough at present, it would be almost too much to say that no circumstance, or combination of circumstances, could ever bring the past to light. And since it would be not only very awkward, but might be the means of wrecking your happiness, if anything should cause the past to be revealed, I say, by all means risk the reception it is likely to meet with, and tell Jessie all you have told me. She has a right to know the kind of man who is asking her to marry him. She deserves to have every confidence placed in her; and, unless I am very much mistaken in her character, she is not likely to cause a man's past to be a bar to his future in the matter contemplated, if she has any regard for him."