Leslie's Loyalty. Garvice Charles

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СКАЧАТЬ as, indeed, he had. "I'm a man who, when he has set his heart upon anything, doesn't change or give it up because he doesn't happen to get it all at once. I've set my heart upon making you my wife, Miss Leslie – ."

      Leslie's face flushed, and she made a motion as if to get up, but sank back again with a faint sigh of resignation.

      "That's been my keenest wish and desire since I saw you two years ago; and it's just as keen, no less and no more, as it was the first half hour I spent in your society."

      "You – you told me this before, Mr. Duncombe," said Leslie, not angrily nor impatiently, but very softly.

      "I know," he assented. "And you told me that it couldn't be. And I suppose most men would have been satisfied – or dissatisfied, and given it up. But I'm not made like that. I shouldn't be where I am and what I am if I were. I dare say you think I'm obstinate."

      The faintest shadow of a smile played on Leslie's lips.

      "Yes!" she said. "But – but may I not be obstinate, too?" pleadingly.

      "No," he said, gravely. "You are a woman, a girl, little more than a child, and I'm a man, a man who has fought his way in the world, and knows what it is; and that makes it different."

      "But – ."

      "Wait a minute," he said. "You said 'no' because – well, because I'm not good-looking, because I haven't the taking way with me which some men have; in short, because there's nothing about me that would be likely to take a romantic girl's fancy – ."

      Leslie laughed softly.

      "Who told you that I am romantic, Mr. Duncombe?" she said.

      "All girls – young girls who don't know the world – are romantic," he said, as if he were remarking that the world is round, and that two and two make four. "You look at the outside of things, and because I'm not handsome and a – swell – you think you couldn't bring yourself to love me, and that I'm not worth loving."

      Leslie shook her head.

      "I respect you very much. I like you, Mr. Duncombe," she said, in a low voice.

      "Very well. That's all I ask," he retorted, promptly. "Be my wife and I'll change your respect into liking, your liking into love. I'm satisfied with that. When a man's starving he is thankful for half a loaf."

      He didn't plead his cause at all badly, and Leslie's gray eyes melted and grew moist.

      "Don't shake your head," he said. "Just listen to me first. You know I love you. You can't doubt that. If you did, and you knew what I've given up to come down here, you wouldn't doubt any longer. And you wouldn't if you knew what this love of mine costs me. A business man wants all his wits about him if he means to succeed; he wants all his thoughts and energies for his business; and for the last two years my wits and my thoughts have been wandering after you. It's a wonder that I have succeeded; but I have. Miss Leslie, though I'm plain to look at, I believe I've got brains. If I can't offer you a title – ."

      Leslie smiled; it was so likely that anyone would offer her a title!

      "I can at least make you a rich woman."

      Her face flushed.

      "Mr. Duncombe – ."

      "I know what you are going to say. All girls declare that they don't care for money, and they mean it. But that's nonsense. A beautiful woman's beautiful whether she's poor or rich, but she's more likely to be happy with plenty of money. And you shall have plenty. I am a rich man now, as times go, and I mean to be richer. I've been working these two years with one object before me. I've made the money solely that I might become less unworthy to offer myself. Miss Leslie, my heart is yours already, such as it is. Be my wife, and share my home and fortune with me!"

      Leslie's lips trembled.

      "Oh, if I could!" she murmured, almost inaudibly. "I am so sorry, so sorry!"

      He took up a pebble, looked hard at it, and cast it from him.

      "You mean that you can't love me?" he said, rather hoarsely.

      Her silence gave assent.

      He drew a long breath.

      "I expected you to say that, but I thought I should persuade you to – try and trust yourself to me, and wait for the love to come." He paused a moment. "Miss Leslie, do you ever think of the future?"

      "Of the future?" She turned her startled eyes on his face, grave almost to sternness.

      "Yes. Forgive me if I speak plainly. You and your father are alone in the world."

      "Yes, ah, yes!" dropped from her parted lips.

      "And he – well, even now it is you who are the protector; some day – Leslie, it makes my heart ache to think of you alone in the world, alone and poor. I know that the little he has goes with him. Don't be angry! I am thinking only of you. I cannot help thinking of you and your future. If you would say 'yes,' if you would promise to be my wife, not only would your future be secure, but your present, his present, would be easier, happier; for your father's sake if not for your own – ."

      He stopped, for Leslie had risen, and stood looking down at him, her lips quivering, her hands clasped tightly.

      "No, no!" she panted; "not even for – for his sake! Oh, I could not! I could not!"

      He arose. His face was pale, making his red hair more scarlet by contrast.

      "I understand," he said. "It isn't that you do not love me, but that you – well, yes, dislike me!"

      "No!"

      "Yes, that's it," he said, his eyes resting for a moment on the lovely face with the wistful, hungry, half fierce look of a famishing man denied the crust which might save his life. Then his eyes sank to the stones. "I see now that I have been a fool to go on hoping, that my case is hopeless. Don't" – for she had shrunk from his almost savage tone – "don't be afraid. I am not going to bother you any more. I wish I could say that I am going to give up loving you; but I can't do that. Something tells me," he struck his breast, as if he were glad of something to strike, "that I shall go on loving you till I die! See here, Les – Miss Lisle. It's evident that I can't be your husband; but I can be your friend. No," – for she turned her head away – "no, I don't mean that I am going to hang about you and pester you. I couldn't. The sight of you would be torture to me. I hope – yes, I hope I sha'n't see you for years. But what I want to say is this; that if ever you need a friend remember that there is one man in the world who would give his right hand to serve you. Remember that at any time – any time, in one year, two, or when you are old and gray – that you have only to say 'Come!' to bring me like a faithful dog to your feet. That time will never come, you think. Very good. But still you may need me. If you do send to me. I devote my life to you – oh, there's no merit in it. I can't help it. I'm romantic in a way, you see." He smiled with bitter self-scorn for his weakness. "You are the one woman in the world to me. Your case is mine, your friends shall be mine, your foes mine. If you need a protector send for me; if one wrongs you, and you want revenge, send to me, and as there is a heaven above us, I will come at your call to help to avenge you."

      His face was white, his eyes gleaming under their red brows. So transformed was he by the master passion that if any one of his city friends had seen him at that moment they would scarcely have recognized him.

      Ralph Duncombe talking the СКАЧАТЬ