"
I nodded in reply.
"My heart went out to you then and there, as it never did to any woman.
I had been fascinated and amused with your ways before that. How I have
waited and hoped since then to see you turn to me with the love-light in
your eyes! Fear lest I might lose my self-restraint and speak too soon,
drove me from you--fear lest some other man would win what I so
passionately craved has brought me back. Darling, you have made this
the happiest day of my life."
CHAPTER XXIX.
THE END.
I never saw Mrs. Le Grande again alive. The following morning I made my
confession to Mr. Winthrop, and got his consent to continue my visits
to the sick room, at Rose Cottage, until recovery or death should take
place. My one anxiety as I walked along the field and woodland that day,
was lest my face might reveal to her keen vision the gladness that
thrilled all my pulses. I did not wait to ring the bell but went directly
to her rooms. The parlor door was closed; when I opened it, at the
farther end of the room I was startled to see a white-robed form lying on
one of the sofas.
I hesitated with sudden fear, but finally summoning all my resolution I
crossed the room and stood beside the clay-cold form of Mrs. Le Grande.
The nurse who was in the adjoining room came to my side and after a few
seconds' silence she said, gently:
"I never felt so lonesome with any dying person as with her last night."
"Did she know she was dying?"
"Yes, we told her.
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