"
"I doubt it," he said with a sigh. "I am not ambitious. I only work for
the sake of work, not for what it will bring. One day I daresay that I
shall weary of it all and leave it. But while I do work, I like to be
among the first in my degree."
"Oh, no," she answered, "you must not give it up; you must go on and on.
Promise me," she continued, looking at him for the first time--"promise
me that while you have health and strength you will persevere till you
stand alone and quite pre-eminent. Then you can give it up."
"Why should I promise you this, Beatrice?"
"Because I ask it of you. Once I saved your life, Mr. Bingham, and it
gives me some little right to direct its course. I wish that the man
whom I saved to the world should be among the first men in the world,
not in wealth, which is an accident, but in intellect and force. Promise
me this and I shall be happy."
"I promise you," he said, "I promise that I will try to rise because you
ask it, not because the prospect attracts me; but as he spoke his heart
was wrung. It was bitter to hear her speak thus of a future in which
she would have no share, which, as her words implied, would be a thing
utterly apart from her, as much apart as though she were dead.
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