Then to think that he was forever to be haunted by this idle dream; to
think that the shattered idol which he could no longer worship was to
live with him to the end, to get up and lie down with him, and stand
forever beside him!

Perhaps, after all, he had been too hard on the girl. Willy told
himself it had been wrong to expect so much of her. She was--he must
look the stern fact in the face--she was a country girl, and no more.
Then was she not also the daughter of Simeon Stagg?

Yes, the sunshine had been over her when he looked at her before, and
it had bathed her in a beauty that was not her own. That had not been
her fault, poor girl. He had been too hard on her. He would go and
make amends.

As Willy entered the house, Sim was coming out of it. They passed
without a word.

"Forgive me, Rotha," said Willy, walking up to her and taking her
hand. "I spoke in haste and too harshly."

Rotha let her hand lie in his, but made no reply. After his apology,
Willy would have extenuated his fault.

"You see, Rotha, you don't know my brother as well as I do, and hence
you could not foresee what would have happened if we had done what you
proposed."

Still there was no response. Willy's words came more slowly as he
continued: "And it was wrong to suppose that whether Ralph were given