Page:The leopard's spots - a romance of the white man's burden-1865-1900 (IA leopardsspotsrom00dixo).pdf/328

 The roar of the train became sonorous with the vibration of a great bridge. He started and looked at his watch.

"We are more than half way to the stop where I must leave you and return."

"How long have you been here?"

"Over a half hour. It does not seem two minutes. Only a few minutes more face to face, and all life crowding for utterance! How can I choose what to say, when my tongue only desires to say I love you! Bend near and whisper to me again your love vow," he cried in trembling accents.

Close to his ear she placed her lips, holding fast his hand whispering again and again, "My own dear love—unto the uttermost. In life, in death, forever!"

He bent again and pressed his lips on her hand and she felt the hot tears.

"And now, love, comes the hardest thing of all," she sobbed, "I must return to you my ring."

"For God's sake keep it!" he pleaded.

"No, I promised Mama for peace sake I would return it. She is very weak. I could not dare to hurt her now with a broken promise. She may not live long. I could never forgive myself. Keep it for me, dear, until I can wear it."

She placed it in his hand and it burnt like a red hot coal. He placed it in an inside pocket next to his heart. It felt like a huge millstone crushing him. A lump rose in his throat and choked him until he gasped for breath.

She looked at him pathetically and saw his anguish.

"Come, my love," she pleaded reproachfully, "you must not make it harder for me. You are a man. You are stronger than I am. Love is more my whole life than it can be yours. For this cruel thing I have said