Page:Far from the Maddening Girls.djvu/208

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

wanting to marry you, Mr. Sands, but had I been ever so anxious, the manner of your offer would have cured me. What was it you brought to me? Was it a poor, weak-kneed imitation of a manly avowal, or was it the strong, unselfish love of a good man for a good woman? Oh, you have yet to learn that in all the world there is nothing greater than that — “

“Except,” I interposed, “the love of a woman for a man. That is infinitely greater, so much greater, indeed, that, where the other is only a miracle, this is a worker of miracles. It pardons him his faults and, in pardoning, often cures them.”

Then there was silence between us, until we came to the first houses of the town. Here Miss Berrith paused upon a corner.

“Now I must leave you,” she said. “I am going to see Darius.”

“Why, bless my soul!” I exclaimed, “so am I! I had forgotten all about it. Do you mind if I come with you?”