[CHAPTER XXI.]
DISCARDED!
"I give thee up—a better fate
My warm devotedness was due,
Yet as I strike thee from my heart
A tear shall seal our last adieu....
An idle word—a careless look,
That love can yet too plainly see,
Has quenched the lambent, holy flame,
And all estranged my heart from thee!"
Lord Chester's pride could scarcely brook Ethel's insolent arraignment for what she chose to term his failure in duty. Impatience was one of his faults, and he could scarcely restrain his indignation. His dark gray eyes flashed with temper until they looked as black and brilliant as Ethel's own, and a deep red spot rose to his cheek.
His heart leaped with the impulse to take the haughty beauty at her word, to be free of the fetters he had forged for honor's sake.
"Free!" Oh, what a sweet sound the word had in his ears! Surely Ethel did not dream how sorely she was tempting him with her resentful sneers. Free! Why, then, he might woo dainty Precious with her sweet blue eyes and gentle heart. Oh, what a heaven of happiness opened before him at the thought!
But he bit his lips and held his peace.
His own inner anxiety to take Ethel at her word only made him feel more deeply his lack of love for his betrothed.
"And she loves me, despite her anger. It would not be honorable to take her at her rash offer," he decided with that keen sense of noblesse oblige inherent in noble natures. Ethel regarded his silence in angry wonder. She chose to consider it an affront, and said coldly: