Beyond the Rocks

"Well, I want you to sympathize with me, and tell me what I had better

do. Shall I go back to England to-morrow morning, or stay for the

dinner-party?"

"You got as far, then, as telling each other you loved each other

madly--and are both suffering from broken hearts, after one week's

acquaintance."

"Don't be so brutal!" pleaded Hector.

And she noticed that his face looked haggard and changed. So her shrewd,

kind eyes beamed upon him.

"Yes, I dare say it hurts; but having broken up your cake, you can't go

on eating it. Why, in Heaven's name, did you let affairs get to a

climax?"

"Because I am mad," said Hector, and he stretched out his arms. "I

cannot tell you how much I love her. Haven't you seen for yourself what

a darling she is? Every dear word she speaks shows her beautiful soul,

and it all creeps right into my heart. I worship her as I might an

angel, but I want her in my arms."

Mrs. McBride knew the English. They were not emotional or poseurs like

some other nations, and Hector Bracondale was essentially a man of the

world, and rather a whimsical cynic as well. So to see him thus moved

must mean great things. She was guilty, too, for helping to create the

situation. She must do what she could for him, she felt.

"You should pull yourself together, mon cher Bracondale," she said; "it

is not like you to be limp and undecided. You had better stay for the

party, and make yourself behave like a gentleman, and how you mean to

continue. We have passed the days when 'Oh no, we never mention him' is

the order, and 'never meeting,' and that sort of thing. You are bound to

meet unless you go into the wilds. And you must face it and try to

forget her."

"I can never forget her," he said, in a deep voice; "but, as you say, I

must face it and do my best."

"You see," continued the widow, "the girl has only been married a year,

and her husband is the most unattractive human being you could find

along a sidewalk of miles; but he is her husband, anyway, and she may

have children."

Hector clinched his hands in a convulsive movement of anguish and rage.

"And you must realize all these possibilities, and settle a path for

yourself and stick to it."

"Oh, I couldn't bear that!" he said. "It would be better I should take

her away myself now, to-day."