Doubtless in time Lady Honoria would get a
divorce, and they might be married. A day might even come when all this
would seem like a forgotten night of storm and fear; when, surrounded by
the children of their love, they would wend peaceably, happily, through
the evening of their days towards a bourne robbed of half its terrors by
the fact that they would cross it hand-in-hand.
Oh, that would be well for her; but would it be well for him? When the
first months of passion had passed by, would he not begin to think of
all that he had thrown away for the sake of a woman's love? Would not
the burst of shame and obloquy which would follow him to the remotest
corners of the earth wear away his affection, till at last, as Lady
Honoria said, he learned to curse and hate her. And if it did not--if
he still loved her through it all--as, being what he was, he well might
do--could she be the one to bring this ruin on him? Oh, it would have
been more kind to let him drown on that night of the storm, when fate
first brought them together to their undoing.
No, no; once and for all, once and for ever, she would _not_ do it.
Pages:
415
416
417
418
419
420
421
422
423
424
425
426
427
428
429
430
431
432
433
434
435
436
437
438
439