“Do not speak—it is useless. Besides, you would not tell me a lie, Jack. Listen; I, too, have been looking back; I, too, have learned a lesson—a truth—while you have been away. And that truth is, that others may love as truly and deeply as myself; and that others may find it as impossible to forget——”
Jack, pale and agitated, stopped her.
“The past is buried,” he said, hoarsely—“let it rest.”
“It is not buried—it cannot be. See! it revives—springs up, even without the mention of her name. Jack, you do not love me—you cannot; for all your love has been given, is still given, to Una.”
“For Heaven’s sake!” he implored, rising and pacing the room.
Lady Bell looked at him.
“Ah, how you love her still, Jack! See how right I was; and yet you would come to me.”
And the tears fall slowly.
“Forgive me,” said Jack, bending over her humbly, imploringly—“forgive me! You—you are right. But I swear I thought it was over for me. You knew me better than I knew myself.”
“Yes, for a good reason, Jack,” she murmured; “for I love you.”