I took the blow standing. I did not wince, though it had come unexpectedly. Of course I had known all along that there must be some lady whom he loved, a woman of that world to which he himself belonged. But I couldn't for the life of me imagine how the finding or the not finding of the Hynds jewels could have any bearing upon the case. I couldn't understand how any woman, any real woman, could let such a thing come between her and Nicholas Jelnik.
When we had walked a little farther: "Doesn't she know you care for her?"
"Who knows what any woman knows or thinks? She may really care for another man."
"There is another man?"
"There is always another man. Her feeling for me may be nothing but pure kindness, for she is kindness itself."
"Still, I think you should tell her," I said, with such a heavy heart!
He shook his head. "There are reasons why my faith might be questioned, my motives doubted; and I couldn't bear that."
"But if you are perfectly sure of your own feelings, if there is absolutely no doubt in your mind that you love her—"
"Love her? I never thought," he said, "that any woman could mean so much to a man! I never dreamed that just one woman could be in herself all that a man needs to hold fast to! Love her? I have been all over the world and I have seen many women in many lands, but never any woman of them all, save that one, for me! It was a revelation to me, that I could care so much. Ah! I wish I could make it plain just how much I do care!"
I had not known until that moment how much the heart can bear of anguish and not break.