Now, I have
been as explicit with you as you were with me, and with what you
have seen of yourself, you know the whole miserable truth. By a
strange fate we who only met a few months since have come to share
a common, very sad knowledge. The memory of your own past, and
I suppose, your Christian faith also, have made you very merciful
and generous, but I shall tax these qualities no further."
"What will you do, Mr. Van Berg?" Ida asked in sudden dread.
"I shall never look Miss Burton in the face again, and after I have
written to her simply and briefly what I have told you, her regret
will be small indeed. Good-by, Miss Mayhew. If I stay any longer
I may speak words to you that would be insults, coming from me."
"Stay," she said, earnestly, "I have something very important to
say to you."
He hesitated and looked at her in strong surprise.
"Give me a few minutes to think," she pleaded, and he saw, from the
quick rise and fall of her bosom and the nervous clasp of her hands,
that she was deeply agitated. She turned from him and looked
wistfully at the young tree on which she had inscribed her name the
day she had promised Mr. Eltinge to receive all heavenly influences
and guidance.
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