“To-morrow? And then?”
“I am leaving this country next week.”
“Leaving the country? And why?”
“My work here is done.”
“Surely there is much yet to do, and you have just begun to do such great things. Why should you leave now?”
Barney waited a few moments in silence as if pondering an answer. “Margaret, I must go,” he finally burst forth. “You know I must go. I can't live within touch of him and forget!”
“Forgive, you mean, Barney.”
“Well, forgive, if you like,” he replied sullenly.
“Barney,” replied Margaret earnestly, “this is unworthy of you, and in the face of God's mercy to-day how can you hold resentment in your heart?”
“How can I? God knows, or the Devil. For three years I have fought it, but it is there. It is there!” He struck his hand hard upon his breast. “I can't forget that he ruined my life! But for him I believe in my soul I should have won—her to me! At a critical moment he came in and ruined—”