Leaning for support against Petrea's monument, whence
Miggie's name had been effaced, he gasped:
"God help me, Edith! You should have spared me this. Do I love
you? Oh Edith, alas, alas! Here with Nina, whom, Heaven is my
witness, I did love truly at the last--here with her, I say, lying
dead between us, I swear to you that never was maiden loved as I
this moment love you; but I cannot make you mine. I dare not prove
thus treacherous to Richard, who trusted you with me, and, Edith,
you can be happy with him, and you will. You must forget that I
ever crossed your path, thinking of me only as one who was your
sister's husband. And God will give you strength to do this if you
ask it of him aright I shall not forgot you, Edith. That cannot
be. Across the sea, wherever I may be, I shall remember you,
enshrining your memory in my heart, together with Nina, whom I so
much wish I had loved earlier, and so have saved us both from
pain. And now go--go back to Collingwood, and keep your vow to
Richard. He is one of God's noblest works, an almost perfect man.
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