Heaven knows I would have married her if she
had remained. Strange and intricate as the net was which the devil
wove about me when I had furnished the cords, I could and would have
broken through it after that strange night--at once the heaven and
the hell of my memory--if Berene had remained. As it was--I married
Mabel, and you know what a farce, ending in a tragedy, our married
life has been. God grant that no worse woes befell Berene; God grant
that I may meet her in the spirit world and tell her how I loved her
and longed for her companionship."
The young rector's eyes were streaming with tears, as he reached over
and clasped the sick man's hands in his. "You will meet her," he
said with a choked voice. "I heard this same story, but without
names, from Berene Dumont's dying lips more than two years ago. And
just as Berene disappeared from you--so her daughter disappeared from
me; and, God help me, dear father--doubly now my father, I crushed
out my great passion for the glorious natural child of your love, to
marry the loveless, wretched and UNNATURAL child of your marriage."
The sick man started up on his couch, his eyes flaming, his cheeks
glowing with sudden lustre.
"My child--the natural child of Berene's love and mine, you say; oh,
my God, speak and tell me what you mean; speak before I die of joy so
terrible it is like anguish.
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