I leave you to surmise just
what were his dying words to me. She was his idol. I have not failed
him in any respect. You ask me to give my consent to your marriage.
I cannot do so. No doubt you will be married, just as you have
planned. She loves you. I have known it for months. I have seen
this day and hour coming,--yes, I have seen it even more clearly
than she, for while she struggled desperately to deceive herself
she has never been able to deceive me. You are a strong, attractive
man. The glamour of mystery rests upon you. You have done prodigious
deeds here, Mr. Percival. All of this I recognize, and I should be
unfair to my own sense of honour were I to deny you my respect and
gratitude. I must be fair. Fear has been the cause of my attitude
toward you,--not fear of you, sir, but fear for my niece. Now
I am confronted by the inevitable. The thing I have tried so hard
to avoid has come to pass. In these circumstances, I am forced to
confess that I have not been without a real, true admiration for
you. I admit that I have felt a great security with you in command
of our camp. But, even so, you are not the man I would have chosen
to be Ruth's husband.
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