Honor, loyalty,
unbounded gratitude, and deep affection bind me to you, and shall
through life. Please say no more, Miss Jennie, for if any question
was ever settled, this is."
"Then you propose to sacrifice yourself and Miss Mayhew for the
shadowy chance of making me a little happier?"
"I shall not be sacrificed, and Ida Mayhew would justly reject
me with scorn were I disloyal to you. I can give you more love,
Jennie Burton, than I fear you will ever give me, but I shall wait
patiently. When months and years have proved to you the truth of
my words, you may feel differently. Let us leave the subject till
then."
"Oh, Mr. Van Berg, I shall have to tell you after all," she said
burying her face in her hands.
"You need not now," he replied gently. "You have been ill and are
not strong enough for this agitation. You never need to tell me
unless it will make your burden lighter."
"It will make my burden lighter to-day," she said hurriedly. "Pardon
me if I tell my story in the briefest and most prosaic way. You
are the first one that has heard it. It may not seem much to you
and others; but to me it is an awful tragedy, and I sometimes fear
my life may be an eternal condition of suspense and waiting.
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