“Only?” the lawyer asked, raising his haggard face, and eagerly reading the lovely flushed one at his side.
“Only to be very, very sorry for you, my friend,” she said, softly, and with a little quivering smile.
Mr. Conrad looked upon her as if she had been an angel—wonder, reverence, awe, all expressed upon his countenance. Then, with a deep groan, the strong man bowed his head and wept the bitterest tears he had ever shed in his life.
He could have borne to hear the felon’s doom pronounced upon him with the face of a Stoic; but this sublime pity and forgiveness caused him to forget his manhood, and made a child of him.
CHAPTER VI
LOVE HAD CONQUERED PRIDE
Dr. Sargeant now came forward, saying:
“Miss Douglas, do you realize how serious this matter is? Have you considered what your position will be in the world henceforth?”
He did not like to have the lawyer escape so easily.
“I realize, doctor, that I am no longer an heiress to great wealth, as every one has thus far supposed—that there is no longer a life of idleness and pleasure for me. On the contrary, I must go out into the world and work for my living,” Brownie replied, lifting her grave eyes to the doctor’s face, while there was a touch of dignity in her manner which he had never seen before.
“Mr. Conrad,” he said, turning to the lawyer, “this is a very grave matter. How do your own affairs stand?”