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338 had vaguely suspected it as a possibility, but she had not allowed herself to think of it as a fact.

"Elsie," Ina said suddenly, "I have learned a good deal while I have been sitting quiet here since Horace died. I have been wrong, wrong from the beginning. There is no use ever in trying to go against nature and one's heart. I was wrong in helping to persuade you to marry Frank. You don't love him; you love Mr. Blake. And Mr. Blake loves you. I saw that very well when he talked to me after you were lost. I knew that he would find you. Love always finds the way to the one that is dearest. Elsie, don't marry Frank if you love Mr. Blake. Only harm will come of it. And God may not be merciful and take him away, as he took Horace. But I ought not to tell you now. You won't understand." And the poor thing burst for the first time into hysterical sobbing.

"Yes, I do understand," Elsie said, taking Ina in her arms and soothing her like a child. "I understand everything, Ina. I made up my mind last night, dear, last night, when we rode together, and it was all so sad and solemn; don't ask me about it. I can never speak of it as it really was to anybody in the world. But I knew that he loved me, and I knew that I would rather die than be any other man's wife. I have been a vain, thoughtless girl all my life, and I never knew what love meant, the sacredness and the wonder and mystery of it, and how it is the one thing in the world that comes next to God and heaven. But I know now, and I know what you feel—that it is a crime, when we know, to marry without love. I don't love Frank; he is no more than a brother to me. And I do love Morres Blake with all my soul. We shall never marry, perhaps. I don't know, not for a long time, if ever; but if I do not marry him, I will die without having been the wife of any other man. I am going to tell Frank that, Ina, as soon as I can see him."

"He is here," said Ina. "He came very late last night. He was worn out. He had been searching for you through the scrub and the gorges. I told him that Mr. Blake had