“I will hear it from her own lips,” he said; “I refuse to believe it from his.”
He found Clarice where her lover had left her, leaning against the stone balustrade of the balcony. He saw the softened tenderness of that beautiful face, the love-light in the wondrous eyes, and from his white lips came a muttered curse.
She looked up in surprise. While her whole heart and thoughts were full of the man she loved, it was not pleasant to see the man who for so long had hopelessly loved her.
“Clarice,” he said, reproachfully, “you are not pleased to see me. Love is keen. Your face fell and your eyes lost half their light when they fell upon me. I am not here to tease you; only to ask you a simple question. Is it true you are going to marry Sir Ronald?”
Her face flushed. She would fain have spared him all the pain.
“I shall bear it more easily if you tell me, Clarice,” he pleaded.
“Yes; it is true,” she replied. “Why do you ask me, Kenelm?”
“I have been told so, and I would not believe it from any one else. Nay, do not shrink from me, Clarice. I am not going to importune you. I am too proud, dear, to try to rob another man of that which he has won. Do you love him?”
Her face glowed unconsciously.
“Yes; I love him with all my heart.”