"
She said "Womanly?" with a little cry. It had always been such a sweet
word to her, and she thought it could never be hers again!
"It is by watching you," he replied, "that I know the meaning of the
word. I thought I knew long ago, but every day you give it a nobler
meaning."
If she could have believed it! For a second or two she tried to
believe it, and then she shook her head.
"How dear of you to think that of me!" she answered. She looked up at
him with exquisite approval in her eyes. She had always felt that men
should have high ideas about women.
"But it was not to save you pain that I came back," she said bravely.
There was something pathetic in the way the truth had always to come
out of her. "I did not think you wanted me to come back. I never
expected you to be looking for me, and when I saw you doing it, my
heart nearly stopped for gladness. I thought you were wearied of me,
and would be annoyed when you saw me coming back. I said to myself,
'If I go back I shall be a disgrace to womanhood,' But I came; and now
do you know what my heart is saying, and always will be saying? It is
that pride and honour and self-respect are gone. And the terrible
thing is that I don't seem to care; I, who used to value them so
much, am willing to let them go if you don't send me away from you.
Pages:
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253