“The river ends it all,” he said as he tossed the photograph into the torrent, “I almost wish it had ended me too.”
Then his eye fell upon the cambric handkerchief found in the train, and a warmth seemed to steal from it, wet and crumpled as it was, which set his heart beating to a faster measure.
“It seems to me,” he said softly, “as if all these long years I had been prizing the shell and neglecting the priceless pearl.” Then, as he kissed the handkerchief again and again—and now at last without remorse—his mind travelled back to the scene on the bridge. Again in his vision there arose the love illumined eyes and passionate glance of the woman whom he was fain to confess now he had loved fondly even when he fled from her. The passion of her presence seemed again to thrill him as he sat there pressing her handkerchief to his lips, and in the fever of his unrest he sprang to his feet and turned towards the highway, only to find himself face to face with Gwendoline Beattison herself.
For a moment the love-light still burning in his eyes seemed to surprise and dazzle her, and then as he opened wide his arms and murmured the one word “darling,” she fled to his heart with a glad cry.
There, eye to eye, heart to heart, and soul to soul, love’s dominion was restored, and Cupid’s glancing arrows at length found their rightful mark.
THE END.
| Typographical errors corrected by the etext transcriber: |
|---|
| lack of arrangement in the deceased’s affairs=> lack of arrangement in the deceaseds’ affairs {pg 42} |
| here and may be there=> here and maybe there {pg 49} |
| Madame Tassaud’s Chamber of Horrors=> Madame Tussaud’s Chamber of Horrors {pg 50} |
| vis-a-vis=> vis-à-vis {pg 100} |
| the custom-house officers came abroad=> the custom-house officers came aboard {pg 132} |
| coresponding relief or elation=> corresponding relief or elation {pg 132} |
| relief in excitment=> relief in excitement {pg 132} |
| The concagious excitement=> The contagious excitement {pg 133} |
| the last glimspe of verdure=> the last glimpse of verdure {pg 141} |
| Three week later=> Three weeks later {pg 161} |
| fade as even great warrior=> fade as even great warriors {pg 175} |
| well-preserved gentlemen of some forty years=> well-preserved gentleman of some forty years {pg 220} |
| by the waiter’s munifience=> by the waiter’s munificence {pg 231} |
| Felix Johnston found opportunities=> Felix Johnstone found opportunities {pg 235} |
| her bright head high in air=> her bright head high in the air {pg 249} |
| that must be by brother Wilfred=> that must be my brother Wilfred {pg 250} |
| unbending command and insistance=> unbending command and insistence {pg 257} |
| retired into the the seclusion=> retired into the seclusion {pg 278} |
| little piece of monogramed=> little piece of monogrammed {pg 297} |
| feather-like handerchief=> feather-like handkerchief {pg 297} |
| he was considerable surprised=> he was considerably surprised {pg 309} |