Would it do to tell her the story of his love for Bernardine? Would she be moved to pity by the drifting apart of two lives because of a betrothal made in a spirit of fun at a race? He hardly dared hope so.
"I was thinking of a strange case that came under my observation lately," he said, "and somehow the subject has haunted me—even in my dreams—probably from the fact that it concerns a friend of mine in whom I take a great interest."
"Do tell me the story!" cried Sally, eagerly—"please do."
"It would sound rather commonplace in the telling," he responded, "as I am not good at story-telling. Well, to begin with, this friend of mine loves a fair and beautiful young girl who is very poor. A wealthy suitor, a dissipated roué, had gained the consent of her father to marry her, before my friend met and knew her and learned to love her. Now, he can not, dare not speak, for, although he believes in his heart that she loves him best, he knows she is bound in honor to another; and to make the matter still more pitiful, he is betrothed to a girl he is soon to marry, though his fiancée has no portion of his great heart. Thus, by the strange decrees of fate, which man can not always comprehend the wisdom of, four people will be wedded unhappily."
As Sally listened with the utmost intentness, she jumped to the conclusion that the "friend" whose picture Jay Gardiner had drawn so pathetically was himself, and she heard with the greatest alarm of the love he bore another. But she kept down her emotions with a will of iron. It would never do to let him know she thought him unfaithful, and it was a startling revelation to her to learn that she had a rival. She soon came to a conclusion.
"It is indeed a strangely mixed up affair," she answered. "It seems to me everything rests in the hands of this young girl, as she could have either lover. Couldn't I go to her in the interest of your friend, and do my best to urge her to marry him instead of the other one."
"But supposing the young girl that he—my friend—is betrothed to refuses to give him up, what then?"
"I might see her," replied Sally, "and talk with her."
"It is hard for him to marry her, when every throb of his heart is for another," answered Jay Gardiner, despondently.
"Who is this young girl who is so beautiful that she has won the love of both these lovers?" she asked in a low, hard voice.