If they are vile, let them suffer. Russ, it's you I think of! Oh,
my pitiful little dreams! I wanted so to surprise you with my beautiful
home--the oranges, the mossy trees, the mocking-birds. Now you'll never,
never come!"
"But, Sally, there's a chance--a mere chance I can do the job without--"
Then she let go of me. She had given up. I thought she was going to
drop, and drew her toward the stone. I cursed the day I ever saw Neal
and the service. Where, now, was the arch prettiness, the gay, sweet
charm of Sally Langdon? She looked as if she were suffering from a
desperate physical injury. And her final breakdown showed how, one way
or another, I was lost to her.
As she sank on the stone I had my supreme wrench, and it left me numb,
hard, in a cold sweat. "Don't betray me! I'll forestall him! He's
planned nothing for to-day," I whispered hoarsely. "Sally--you dearest,
gamest little girl in the world! Remember I loved you, even if I
couldn't prove it your way. It's for his sake. I'm to blame for their
love. Some day my act will look different to you. Good-by!"
Chapter 13
RUSS SITTELL IN ACTION
I ran like one possessed of devils down that rough slope, hurdling the
stones and crashing through the brush, with a sound in my ears that was
not all the rush of the wind.
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