"Grace, do not aggravate my misfortune by expressing too
much sympathy. I am not as miserable as you may think, indeed, I
am not as unhappy even now as yourself."
"It's true, Richard, true," she replied, "and because I am unhappy
I have come to ask your forgiveness if ever word or action, or
taunt of mine caused you a moment's pain. I have suffered much
since we parted, and my suffering has atoned for all my sin."
She ceased speaking and softened by memories of the past, when he
loved Grace Elmendorf, Richard reached for her hand, and holding
it between his own, said to her gently, "Grace, I forgave you
years ago. I know you have suffered much, and I am sorry for it,
but we will understand each other now. You are the widow of the
man you chose, I am hopelessly blind--our possessions adjoin each
other, our homes are in sight. I want you for a neighbor, a
friend, a sister, if you like. I shall never marry. That time is
past. It perished with the long ago, and it will, perhaps, relieve
the monotony of my life if I have a female acquaintance to visit
occasionally.
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