BOOK V.
THE END OF THE BEGINNING.
(From the Shorthand Notes of John Burke.)
CHAPTER I.
THE DEEDS OF THE FARM.
Sunday, June 13.
In three days it will be a year since Helen promised to marry me, and on that anniversary she will be my wife.
It is strange how exactly according to my plan things have come about—and how differently from all that I have dreamed.
She is the most beautiful woman in the world; she is to be my wife sooner than I dared to hope—and—I must be good to her. I must love her.
Did I ever doubt my love until she claimed it five days ago with such confidence in my loyalty? In that moment, as I went to her, as I took her in my arms, as I felt that she needed me and trusted me, with the suddenness of a revelation I knew—