"It does not matter," she said. "I have been a fool."
He paid no heed to her words, but went on steadily.
"My love is hopeless," he said. "I do not think I can ever love again, but here am I, and if you think"—he hesitated a moment—"if you think I can make you happy in any way—Myra, will you marry me? You shall have no cause to complain."
A sob shook her frame. "No," she said, "I have been a fool. It is your love I want, and now I know it cannot be mine, I want to be alone." She pointed to the fire. "The flames have died away. Soon there will only be dead ashes. Help me up, Guy." He assisted her to rise. "I think I'll go to bed, Guy," she said. "Good-night."
She held out one hand. He took both, and, drawing her to him, kissed her. She responded with a kiss innocent as a child's.
When she passed out he left the door ajar. Later on he went to the door of her room and listened. He could hear her regular breathing and judged she slept. Yet he kept vigil until the dawn broke. Then he ventured to peep into her room. Yes, she slept with tears glistening on her eyelashes. The fear which had beset him, lest she should have been tempted to end her life, was relieved. He put on his coat and hat, and let himself out.
"Poor Myra!" he thought pityingly. He was developing rapidly. The previous morning he had been pitying himself.
CHAPTER XXIII
A FRIEND IN ADVERSITY
Blue skies and sunshine and a rippling silver sea, all nature jocund and gay, and for the first time in her young life Meriel was unresponsive to the appeal. The romance had gone out of life. The man she had learned to love was a thief—a thief. She told herself fiercely that she no longer loved him, that she had never loved him, but the ache at her heart gave the lie to the declaration.
The perpetual ache at her heart! If she could only have shared the burden with Mrs. Marven, taken advantage of her Aunt's sympathetic counsel, sobbed out her trouble and her despair on that motherly breast, the pain would have been easier to bear. But she could not do that. Thief though he was, Meriel could not betray Guy's confidence.