[CHAPTER XV.]
We will return to Bertram Chesleigh, little Golden's recreant lover.
All of John Glenalvan's influence had been brought to bear on the proud young man to induce him to relinquish his pursuit of the beautiful girl whose acquaintance he had so strangely and imprudently formed.
Mr. Chesleigh's own pride of birth, united to John Glenalvan's artful innuendoes, was a powerful ally in the young man's mind against his love for the lonely and beautiful little girl.
In the light of John Glenalvan's revelations, a great revulsion had taken place in his mind.
He heartily wished that he had never made the acquaintance of the lovely little creature, or that he had not followed it up with such ardor and passion.
With few, if any exceptions, men are naturally selfish. Bertram Chesleigh, who had never known a desire unfulfilled in the course of his prosperous life, was no exception to the general rule.
In pursuing his acquaintance with little Golden, he had been actuated more by a regard for his own pleasure than by any thought of risk for her.
In the light of recent developments, he thought also first of himself. How to escape from the consequences of his headlong passion became momentarily a paramount consideration.
When his conscience reproached him he replied to it that it was only natural and right that he should think first of himself.