“It was part of the punishment, you see, for my relations with her who only gratified my senses, but was nothing to my soul. Our love was too beautiful to live on a lie; we had to conceal it like a crime.
“Believe me, Jenny, there is no other happiness than a great love.”
She went up to him and he rose; they stood an instant close to one another without speaking.
“I must go now,” he said abruptly, in a strained voice. “I must be back in time, or she will suspect something.”
Jenny nodded, and followed him to the door.
“You must not believe that your heart is beyond love,” he said; “it is a proud heart—and a warm one. Will you still count me among your friends, little girl?”
“Yes, thank you,” said Jenny, giving him her hand.
He bent over it and held it long to his lips—longer than ever before.