East of the Shadows

"I cannot think of her as dead--she was so bright--so happy. She is dead--and I have lived on all these years. I wonder that I did not know that she was dead. I ought to have known it, for I loved her so. And all our love lately has been only a dream--and we were so happy. Oh, why was I not told the truth? why did you not let me die? It would have been kinder than to let me live to find out for myself--that she is gone--and I am all alone."

Philippa slipped down upon her knees beside the couch, and cried passionately, "Oh no, you are not all alone--we have been so happy--I have made you happy. Can we not be happy again? I love you so--have you no love for me?"

She was sobbing now, with her face hidden in her hands.

"I do not know," he said. "It is Phil I love--I loved you when I thought that you were Phil. My dear, my dear, how can I disentangle the present from the past?"

"Then do not try," she pleaded, raising her tear-stained face. "Oh, Francis, let us be happy again; let me make you happy. Think of me as Phil if you will--but let us dream again the dream we found so sweet. I love you so, and I will comfort you. Think of all we had planned. Shall we not grasp our dream and make it real? If I may be your wife--as you asked me--we will go together to the place where it is always sunshine and you will find that life can hold brightness. I will make it bright for you. You remember it was all arranged, we were to go to the Magical Island--that was what you called it. Do not send me away from you."

He looked at her pityingly. "My dear," he said gently, "it was only a dream--a dream and a delusion. It is not possible--you are only a child, while I am old. You are Jim's girl, and Jim was my boyhood's friend. Your life is all before you, while mine is near the ending--and--it is Phil I love."

"I am no child." She was pleading desperately now for what was slipping from her grasp. "I am no child, but a woman, and I love you--I ask of you nothing more than the right to be with you and care for you. You say you are all alone--then let me comfort you."

He shook his head. "Phil is dead--my life is over--I did not know--and she will forgive me my mistake--she must know I love no one but her. She was so true--I could not but be true to her--and perhaps I may go to her soon--she will be waiting--and I have lost twenty years of Paradise."