"Yet I had meant to see her without being seen, when I hurried so
unexpectedly down here on your wedding night. I fancied I only longed
to see what a lovely bride she would make--she who as a child, a girl,
a maiden, had been in your eyes the most exquisite creature you had
ever known; she whom I had avoided for years, because I, of all men,
could least afford to take a place in her life! I longed to see those
eyes, still so pure, under her bridal veil.

"I came in secret! I saw her--and all prudence fled out of me, leaving
but one instinct.

"Was it my fault that, alone, she fled from the house? That, with her
veil thrown over her arm, she ran directly by me, like a sprite in the
moonlight, to this spot?

"The rest you know.

"It is not you who need pity!

"You have the pain of an imperishable loyalty in your soul. It is like
a glory in your face, in spite of all you have suffered. As I look at
you, it seems but yesterday that all was well between us.

"I lost much in losing you.

"Nor am I sure that you were right to go! But that was for your own
nature to decide. In your place I should have fought Fate, I expected
you to do it.

"I loved her first, because she satisfied my eyes. I loved her the