"
"But you weren't a coward."
"I know, and so I could stand it--could stand your scorn and the scorn
of the world. But what if I stayed out of it now, Jean?
"What if I stayed out of it now? You and I could have our little
moment of happiness, while other men fought that we might have it. We
should be living in Paradise, while other men were in Hell. I can't
see it, dearest. All these months I have been bound. But now, my
dear, my dear, do you love me enough not to keep me, but to let me go?"
There was a beating pause. She lifted wet eyes. "Oh, Derry, darling,
I love you enough--I love you--"
Thus, in a moment, little Jean McKenzie unlatched the gate which had
shut her into the safe and sunshiny garden of pampered girlhood and
came out upon the broad highway of life, where men and women suffer for
the sake of those who travel with them, sharing burdens and gaining
strength as they go.
Dimly, perhaps, she perceived what she had done, but it was not given
to her to know the things she would encounter or the people she would
meet. All the world was to adventure with her, throughout the years,
the poor distracted world, dealing death and destruction, yet dreaming
ever of still waters and green pastures.
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