Yet as this purpose formed, his gaze instinctively sought Ruth's, and he
saw that she was looking up at Philip Alston with love--unmistakable
love--in her face. The sight brought back all the helplessness that he
always felt when forced to realize her fondness for the man. He felt as
he might have done had he seen some deadly thing coiled about her so
closely that he could not strike it without wounding her tender breast.
The trouble had been like that from the first and it was like that
now--perhaps it always would be. He did not know what to do or say, with
her blue eyes appealing from him to Philip Alston. He was glad when
William Pressley broke the silence. The young lawyer had been thinking
hard; he never did anything on mere impulse. He always stopped to
consider how a thing would look, no matter how angry he might be. His
vanity had been slowly swallowing a bitter morsel, and it was now quite
clear to him that he must act promptly in order to escape a still
bitterer humiliation. Moreover, the chief consideration which had kept
him from allowing Ruth to break the engagement sooner, was now removed.
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