Suddenly the awful sacrifice which one of them must make loomed
large before his imagination. Then came the question: Will Tarzan
claim his own? The ape-man had known the contents of the message
before he calmly denied knowledge of his parentage! He had admitted
that Kala, the ape, was his mother! Could it have been for love
of Jane Porter?

There was no other explanation which seemed reasonable. Then,
having ignored the evidence of the message, was it not reasonable
to assume that he meant never to claim his birthright? If this
were so, what right had he, William Cecil Clayton, to thwart the
wishes, to balk the self-sacrifice of this strange man? If Tarzan
of the Apes could do this thing to save Jane Porter from unhappiness,
why should he, to whose care she was intrusting her whole future,
do aught to jeopardize her interests?

And so he reasoned until the first generous impulse to proclaim the
truth and relinquish his titles and his estates to their rightful
owner was forgotten beneath the mass of sophistries which self-interest
had advanced. But during the balance of the trip, and for many
days thereafter, he was moody and distraught. Occasionally the
thought obtruded itself that possibly at some later day Tarzan
would regret his magnanimity, and claim his rights.

Several days after they reached Baltimore Clayton broached the
subject of an early marriage to Jane.

"What do you mean by early?" she asked.

"Within the next few days. I must return to England at once--I