"A girl I honor and
respect, but--"
"But what?" she said weakly, for the mention of his possible
marriage with another had flung her own feelings into her very
face.
"But unless you will be my wife, I shall never marry." He folded
his arms across his chest as he said it--the very action expressed
finality. For a second he stood erect, dark, slender, lithe,
immovable, then with sudden impulse he held out one hand to her and
spoke very quietly. "I love you, Lydia. Will you come to me?"
"Yes," she answered clearly. "I will come."
He caught her hands very tightly, bending his head until his fine
face rested against her hair. She knew then that she had loved him
through all these years, and that come what might, she would love
him through all the years to be.
That night she told her frail and fading sister, whom she found
alone resting among her pillows.
"'Liza dear, you are crying," she half sobbed in alarm, as the great
tears rolled slowly down the wan cheeks. "I have made you unhappy,
and you are ill, too. Oh, how selfish I am! I did not think that
perhaps it might distress you."
"Liddy, Liddy darling, these are the only tears of joy that I have
ever shed!" cried Elizabeth.
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