“What shall I do, Len? My darling, my darling!”
Leonard sighed. His heart—the heart of as true a friend as ever the world held—ached for the wild, thoughtless youth.
“Was Lady Bell there?” he asked, quietly.
Jack leaped to his feet.
“Lady Bell! I see what you mean!” he groaned. “Len, you are in love yourself, and yet you ask me to sell myself——”
Leonard flushed.
“Jack, much as I care for you, I swear that I am thinking as much of her good and happiness as of your own. If you marry her—which, after all, you cannot—if you could you would make her life miserable; if you marry Lady Bell, you will at least make her—happy.”
Jack paced up and down for a moment. Then he turned, white and haggard, and held out his hand:
“You are right. Would to Heaven you were not! I see it, I cannot help it. I will not make her life miserable. But—but—I must go and tell her. Heaven help us both!”