Very late, as I was turning away, I saw him arrive--with no small
satisfaction, for I had determined to let him know immediately in what
way I had attempted to serve him. But he straightway passed his arm
through my own and led me off towards the gardens. I saw that he was too
excited to allow me to speak first.
"I have burnt my ships!" he cried, when we were out of earshot of the
crowd. "I have told her everything. I have insisted that it's simple
torture for me to wait with this idle view of loving her less. It's well
enough for her to ask it, but I feel strong enough now to override her
reluctance. I have cast off the millstone from round my neck. I care
for nothing, I know nothing, but that I love her with every pulse of my
being--and that everything else has been a hideous dream, from which she
may wake me into blissful morning with a single word!"
I held him off at arm's-length and looked at him gravely. "You have told
her, you mean, of your engagement to Miss Vernor?"
"The whole story! I have given it up--I have thrown it to the winds. I
have broken utterly with the past. It may rise in its grave and give me
its curse, but it can't frighten me now. I have a right to be happy, I
have a right to be free, I have a right not to bury myself alive.
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