And the fire in the man’s eyes abruptly died out.
“He was here this morning, and––he was a little strange.”
Will propped himself against the table, and his face, strangely pale, was turned to the window. Nor did he see the snow-capped hills which bounded the entire view. Guilty thoughts filled his mind and crowded out everything else.
“Well?” he demanded, as Eve waited for him to speak.
“You are such friends, dear, that I wanted to ask you––Do you know why he came to see me?”
Will shook his head. Then a smile struggled round his clean shaven mouth.
“Maybe the same reason that makes most fellows crowd round a pretty girl.”
It was a wistful smile that accompanied the girl’s denial.
“I would like to think it was only that,” she said. “Do you know I am very, very fond of Jim. No, no, not in the way you mean,” she exclaimed hastily, as the man turned on her, hot with the jealousy which was so much a part of his Celtic nature. “I have always been fond of Jim. He’s so generous; so kind and self-sacrificing. Do you know, Will, I believe he’d give up anything to you. It is my conviction that his first thought in life is for your welfare and happiness. And somehow, it––it doesn’t seem right. No, I don’t mean that you don’t deserve it, but that––well, don’t you think a man should fight every battle in which he finds himself on his own account? Don’t you think, you who are so capable, that the struggles that every man must encounter 75 in life demand the whole of his energies to bring them to a successful end? I do. It’s not a matter of self exactly, but we are all so full of weaknesses that this unselfish way of dividing our energies is apt to weaken our own defenses. Thus the scheme for our own uplifting, our own purification, rather suffers. You see, I think we are here on this earth for the purpose of bettering ourselves and preparing for that future, which––I know what I am saying sounds selfish, but really, really, I don’t think it is. Do you know, Jim came to ask me to marry him? I know he did. I avoided his direct question, and told him that you asked me last night, and that I had given you my promise. Well, he accepted it as though, as though he had no business to want what you wanted. And his only comment was that you were a ‘good boy,’ and that he thought you’d make me a good husband. Now, don’t laugh”––the man showed not the slightest inclination to do so. His face was livid; there was something like horror in his eyes––“but if I’d been a man in his place I should have been just mad. Do you think I’d have said that? No, Will; my thoughts would have been murderous. But with him it was otherwise, I’m sure. Yet he loved me, and he was hurt. I could see it––oh, I could see it. The agony in his eyes nearly broke my heart. Will, I think we owe Jim something. I know we can’t ever repay it. But we owe him surely. You do, even more than I. I can’t bear to think of his hurt.”
The girl ceased speaking. Will had made no attempt to stop her, yet every word she had spoken lashed him to a savage self-defense.