The young man regarded her with exceeding tenderness, but he was still greatly disturbed by his recent interview with the stranger, and could not readily regain his composure.
He believed that he was on the verge of an important discovery, and he was at the same time impressed that it would only bring him shame and sorrow.
“Gladys, would you not shrink from marrying a man whose mother had never been—a wife?” he asked, a hot flush mounting to his brow.
“I could never shrink from you, Geoffrey, and I would not accept the proudest position in the land in exchange for your love. I might deeply regret such a circumstance, on your account; but, dear, my affection for you is far too strong to be weakened by a mere accident of birth. Let us put all such dismal thoughts away from our minds. I will not believe that dishonor has ever touched you or yours,” Gladys concluded, looking up with a fond smile.
“Dear little comforter,” murmured the young man, trying to return it, though it was but the ghost of one.
“Do not go near that man, Geoff,” Gladys continued. “Let us be happy as we are, and not trouble ourselves about the past.”
The poor fellow sighed, as if it would be a great relief to let it go, to consign it to oblivion, but the anxious look did not leave his face.
“I cannot, Gladys,” he said, with pale, compressed lips. “I shall never rest until all the dark mystery of my past life is explained. I must keep my appointment with that man this afternoon, and I will not leave him until I have wrung from him every scrap of information that he may possess regarding me and mine, and if——”
“Geoff, what?” cried the young girl, breathlessly, alarmed by his unusual tone, and the look upon his face.
“If I find that that man is my father, and that he wronged my mother, he shall have reason to regret both those facts for the remainder of his life,” was the stern reply.