When they had finished she rose to leave; but he asked her to
stop, and, after the table had been cleared, he walked up and down the
room, while she sat sideways on the window seat from where she could
watch the little ships moving to and fro across the horizon, like painted
figures in a show.
"I had a long talk with Nan last night," he said. "And, trying to
explain it to her, I came a little nearer to understanding it myself. My
love for you would have been strong enough to ruin both of us. I see
that now. It would have dominated every other thought in me. It would
have swallowed up my dreams. It would have been blind, unscrupulous.
Married to you, I should have aimed only at success. It would not have
been your fault. You would not have known. About mere birth I should
never have troubled myself. I've met daughters of a hundred earls--more
or less: clever, jolly little women I could have chucked under the chin
and have been chummy with. Nature creates her own ranks, and puts her
ban upon misalliances. Every time I took you in my arms I should have
felt that you had stepped down from your proper order to mate yourself
with me and that it was up to me to make the sacrifice good to you by
giving you power--position.
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