"No," said Arthur firmly. "She is heart-whole: I am sure of that. Yet, if she loves another better than me, so be it! I will not spoil her happiness. The secret shall die with me. But she is my first——and my only love!"
"That is all very beautiful sentiment" I said, "but it is not practical. It is not like you.
He either fears his fate too much,
Or his desert is small,
Who dares not put it to the touch,
To win or lose it all."
"I dare not ask the question whether there is another!" he said passionately. "It would break my heart to know it!"
"Yet is it wise to leave it unasked? You must not waste your life upon an 'if'!"
"I tell you I dare not!"
"May I find it out for you?" I asked, with the freedom of an old friend.
"No, no!" he replied with a pained look. "I entreat you to say nothing. Let it wait."
"As you please," I said: and judged it best to say no more just then. "But this evening," I thought, "I will call on the Earl. I may be
