Then a rushing wind filled his ears like a
moan of wind in the cliffs, a knell indeed--Oldring's knell.
He dropped to his knees and hid his face against Bess, and
grasped her with the hands of a drowning man.
"My God!...My God!...Oh, Bess!...Forgive me! Never mind what I've
done--what I've thought. But forgive me. I'll give you my life.
I'll live for you. I'll love you. Oh, I do love you as no man
ever loved a woman. I want you to know--to remember that I fought
a fight for you--however blind I was. I thought--I thought--never
mind what I thought--but I loved you--I asked you to marry me.
Let that--let me have that to hug to my heart. Oh, Bess, I was
driven! And I might have known! I could not rest nor sleep till I
had this mystery solved. God! how things work out!"
"Bern, you're weak--trembling--you talk wildly," cried Bess.
"You've overdone your strength. There's nothing to forgive.
There's no mystery except your love for me. You have come back to
me!"
And she clasped his head tenderly in her arms and pressed it
closely to her throbbing breast.
CHAPTER XIX. FAY
At the home of Jane Withersteen Little Fay was climbing
Lassiter's knee.
"Does oo love me?" she asked.
Lassiter, who was as serious with Fay as he was gentle and
loving, assured her in earnest and elaborate speech that he was
her devoted subject. Fay looked thoughtful and appeared to be
debating the duplicity of men or searching for a supreme test to
prove this cavalier.
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