Would that Earle Wayne could have heard this tribute from the woman he so loved!
“Wayne—is it spelled with a y?” Mr. Tressalia asked.
“Yes.”
“Of what nationality is he?”
“American, I judge, though I never heard him say aught upon the subject.”
“Strange! strange!” Mr. Tressalia muttered, with thoughtful brow.
But after a few minutes of musing, he reached out and clasped her hand.
The confession she had made, and he had listened to, was a strange one for a delicate and sensitive woman to make, and his great heart was touched with sympathy for the gallant lover, and with admiration for the woman who could be so true and loyal to him.
“Miss Dalton,” he said, in earnest though slightly tremulous tones, “I realize that all my hope must die; but what you have told me only makes my loss so much greater and harder to bear, for I honor you above women for the courage you have manifested in telling me this. You are a noble daughter of a noble country, and he who has won your love will have cause to adore you all his life. That he is worthy of you, notwithstanding his misfortune, I cannot doubt, after what you have told me, and I do not believe you could love unworthily. God bless him for his nobility, and you for your constancy!”
Editha looked up astonished at this heartfelt benediction. She had begun to regard him as lacking somewhat in character and pride, when he had returned to plead his cause after her repeated refusal, but now she saw that she had underrated him. She saw that his love was deep and true for her, and that he suffered as great men alone can suffer when he found that he could never win her love; but a mind that was capable of such generosity as to rise above self—to admire and sympathize with a rival—was worthy of the highest regard.