"And had you definitely made up your mind by then as to what you wanted to do?"
"Yes, sir."
"Well, and just what was that?"
"Well, I had decided to play as fair as I could. I had been thinking about it all night, and I realized how badly she would feel and I too if I didn't do the right thing by her—because she had said three or four times that if I didn't she would kill herself. And I had made up my mind that morning that whatever else happened that day, I was going to straighten the whole thing out."
"This was at Grass Lake. You were still in the hotel on Thursday morning?"
"Yes, sir."
"And you were going to tell her just what?"
"Well, that I knew that I hadn't treated her quite right and that I was sorry—besides, that her offer was fair enough, and that if after what I was going to tell her she still wanted me, I would go away with her and marry her. But that I had to tell her first the real reason for my changing as I had—that I had been and still was in love with another girl and that I couldn't help it—that probably whether I married her or not——"
"Miss Alden you mean?"
"Yes, sir—that I would always go on loving this other girl, because I just couldn't get her out of my mind. But just the same, if that didn't make any difference to her, that I would marry her even if I couldn't love her any more as I once did. That was all."