But to-day your thoughts wronged me cruelly. You have slain all
hope and self-respect. I do not feel that I can live after seeing
an honorable man look at me as you looked this evening. You believed
me capable of flying to he man who attempted your life--who insulted
and orphan girl. You looked at me, not as a lady, but an object
beneath contempt. This is a humiliation that I cannot and will
not survive. When you know that i have sought death rather than
the villain with whom you are associating me, you may think of me
more favorably. Possibly the memory of Ida Mayhew may lead you,
when again you see a worm-eaten bud, to kill the destroyer and help
the flower to bloom as well as it can. But now, like my emblem,
I have lost my one chance.
The night was now far spent. Her mother, having been refused
admittance, had fumed and fretted herself to sleep. The house was
very still. She opened her window and looked out. Clouds obscured
the stars, and it was exceedingly dark.
"The long night to which I'm going will be darker still," sighed
the unhappy girl. "Well, I will live one more day. To-morrow I
will go out and sit in the sunlight once more.
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