But chief of all had he been proud of his unstained manhood,
of the honor, which he believed had been kept unsullied until
this miserable day. But now, as he strode away in the moonlight,
he found himself confronting certain facts which he felt he could
never explain to any one's satisfaction, not even his own. He had
openly professed to love a poor and orphaned girl, and had pledged
himself to win her if he could--to be her friend till he could
become far more. Even granting that she still looked on him merely
as a friend, that did not release him. It was while possessing
the distinct knowledge that she cherished no warmer feeling that
he had made the pledge, and though she might not be able or willing
to-day or to-morrow, or for years to come, to give up a past love
for his sake, his promise required that he should patiently woo and
wait till she could bury the past with her old lover, and receive,
at his hands, the future that he was in honor bound to keep within
her reach. Of course, if, after the lapse of years, she assured
him she could not and would not accept of his hand in marriage, he
would be free, but he had scarcely waited weeks before giving his
love to another.
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