Rattray glared at me, yet I saw that his eyes were dim.

Eva clasped her hands before her, and looked me steadily in the face.

But never a word.
"You love him ?" I said sternly.
The silence of consent remained unbroken.
"Villain as he is ?" I burst out.
And at last Eva spoke.
"I loved him before he was one," said she.

"We were engaged." She looked at him standing by, his head bowed, his arms folded; next moment she was very close to me, and fresh tears were in her eyes.

But I stepped backward, for I had had enough.
"Can you not forgive me ?" "Oh, dear, yes." "Can't you understand ?" "Perfectly," said I.
"You know you said--" "I have said so many things!" "But this was that you--you loved me well enough to--give me up." And the silly ego in me--the endless and incorrigible I--imagined her pouting for a withdrawal of those brave words.
"I not only said it," I declared, "but I meant every word of it." None the less had I to turn from her to hide my anguish.