"I am not angry with you, Mr. Earle," she replied, gently. "Most men would have felt the same—would they not?" but in her heart she felt that there was one, at least, whose fealty would not have faltered.
"Yes, most men would, I think," he replied, and when he had made Lina promise that she would still remain his friend, he went away to tell Violet what had occurred.
"It was a weak and shallow love after all," she mused, when she was thus left alone by her recreant lover. "I am glad he has found it out in time, and I am—oh, so glad that I need not marry Walter Earle."
And with clasped hands Jaquelina thanked God for the accident which had deprived her of all her charms and set her free from her engagement, for she had realized from the first that there could be nothing more galling in life than the bonds she had forged in her gratitude for Walter's brave quarrel with Gerald Huntington.
Yet life looked very long and lonely to the tearful, dark eyes as she sat there musing. She began to realise that love—beautiful love—had gone out of her life forever.
[CHAPTER XXXIX.]
Violet Earle was not surprised at her brother's action. She was rather relieved by it. The first shock over, she was rather glad that Jaquelina had lost all her charms. Ronald Valchester had nothing to regret now. The beauty he had loved was lost forever.
The day before she returned home, she went to see Jaquelina. She was curious to know what her generous rival proposed to do with her blank and ruined life.
"Do you really intend to return to Europe as you said you would?" she asked her.