And if there should ever be
anyone else--I--I should want her to be happy."
"Don't try to be magnanimous," Miss Emily advised. "You are human, and
it isn't in the heart of man to want the woman he loves ever to turn to
another. Let the years take care of that. But you can be very sure of
one thing--that no one will ever take your place with Jean."
"But she may marry."
"Why should you torture yourself with that? You have given her
something that no one else can ever give--the wonder and rapture of
first love. And the heroes of a war like this will be in a very
special manner set apart! 'A glorious company, the flower of men, to
serve as models for the mighty world!'"
She laid her hand on his shoulder. "You must think now only of love
and life and of coming back to Jean."
He reached up his hand and caught hers in a warm clasp. "Do you know
you are the nearest, thing to a mother that I've known since I lost
mine?"
He spoke, too, rather awkwardly, of the feeling about--getting ready.
"I have always thought that if I tried to live straight--I've thought,
too, that it wouldn't come until I was old--that I should have plenty
of time--and that by then, I should be more--spiritual.
Pages:
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288