And closed the eyes that veiled the face
I never again might see.
I breathed no word, and I shed no tear,
But the onward years looked dark and drear,
And I knew, by the throbs of mortal pain,
That a sweetness had fled which never again
Would in life come back to me.”
Looking up into the face of her companion, Jess saw that it was ghastly white with horror, his lips trembled with unconcealed emotion. Anxiety and sorrow, mingled with impatience, darkened his brow. She gazed at him wonderingly, and like one fascinated.
“Tell me,” he repeated, “is this thing true, that you have thrown over another, a good and true man, who is at this moment making preparations to marry you, to wed me?”
She tried to answer him, but his sternness terrified her; she had never dreamed that that handsome face could look so rigid and fierce, nor those dark eyes hold so much fire and scorn.