“Oh, I did wrong to unnerve you so. Forgive me,” the lady cried repentantly.
“It is so dreadful!” Jessie sobbed, in answer, and for some moments she found it impossible to command her feelings.
Then she stifled the bursting sobs, murmuring faintly:
“It was so distressing I could not help it!”
“It does credit to your tender heart, dear girl, but do not forget that the story is going to end happily after all.”
A flood of sympathy for Frank Laurier’s troubles had been aroused in Jessie’s heart, blotting out all her passionate resentments.
“How he has suffered through the sufferings of the proud beauty he loved so well! And she, too, has atoned for all her heartlessness in the ordeal she has passed through. I pity them too much to hate them any longer, and when we meet to-morrow I will be very kind to him,” she thought.
It was just what Laurier had been wishing—that she would be kind to him when they met again.
The next morning she came on deck in a pretty gown of Miss Chanler’s that had been altered to fit by a clever maid.
She looked lovely, though very, very pale still, as she went up to Laurier with frankly extended hand.