Indeed,
I kept her very existence a secret,--I could not endure that others
should hear of the destruction of all that marvellous grace and queenly
loveliness! She lived long enough to see her daughter blossom into
girlhood,--then,--she died. I could not bear to have her laid in the
damp, wormy earth--you know in our creed earth-burial is not
practiced,--so I laid her tenderly away in a king's tomb of
antiquity,--a tomb known only to myself and one who assisted me to lay
her in her last resting-place. There she sleeps right royally,--and now
is your mind relieved, my lad? For the reports of the Bosekop folk must
certainly have awakened some suspicions in your mind?"
"Your story has interested me deeply, sir," said Errington; "but I
assure you I never had any suspicions of you at all. I always disregard
gossip--it is generally scandalous, and seldom true. Besides, I took
your face on trust, as you took mine."
"Then," declared Gueldmar, with a smile, "I have nothing more to
say,--except"--and he stretched out both hands--"may the great gods
prosper your wooing! You offer a fairer fate to Thelma than I had
dreamed of for her--but I know not what the child herself may say--"
Philip interrupted him.
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