Page:Caroline Lockhart--The full of the Moon.djvu/276

 "Our last?"

"I am going into the hills with French Pete to-morrow," he said quietly. "I know that yon have decided as to your future, and I have no place in your plans. At last I have come to see that I have no chance of winning your love, and I mean never to bother you with it again.

"You will forgive me, Nan, won't you, if I have annoyed you with my persistence? But it was hard—so very hard to give you up. I could not help it; I loved you so! I wanted you so! And as long as I thought there was no one else the hope would persist that some day you might come to care for me in the way that I wanted you to care. There is some one else now and you do not need me any more, so I will go. God bless you. Nan, and I hope you will be happy!"

"Bob!" She laid her hand upon his arm.

"Don't pity me. Nan. This disappointment has come to many a better man than I am. You've been frank and fair with me. I bear you no resentment. There is no bitterness toward you in my heart—nothing but love."