But it was like taking the sun from the heavens to have her go.
“I do not know,” she said, with a sigh, and her tone, so sadly sweet, moved him to his very soul.
She had been with them less than three months, but during that time she had grown to be the one woman in the world to him.
He had learned to watch and live upon her every motion and expression, to listen eagerly for her footsteps and even the soft rustle of her clothing. The lightest sound of her voice, her very presence, thrilled him as nothing else had ever done before. He had lived a new life since her coming. He knew he was a better man for it.
She had stirred into being new motives and purposes, and he was beginning to think of forsaking this idle way of living, and of trying to fit himself to be useful in the world, and worthy of her.
And now she was being driven away like a criminal, and insulted by his own kin.
If she should go away thus, with this dreadful cloud hanging over her, what would become of her? Who would take her in?
His pulses throbbed wildly; he grew desperate with the thought.
“You do not know? Will you let me tell you where to go?” he breathed, bending eagerly toward her, his face flushing hotly, and his eyes glowing with the wild love which moved him.
She looked up a little surprised by his manner, and her clear eyes fell before his passionate gaze.