I expect this is the best thing that's happened to me for a
long time."
As he walked back to his hotel, his head was full of plans for the
girl's transient pleasure and lasting benefit. "Poor lonely child," he
thought. "And what a mother! She ought not to be left with a person like
that. She ought to marry. It would be a good deed to take her away from
such an influence. So young, and so ingenuous as she is still, in spite
of the surroundings she must have known, she is capable of becoming a
noble woman. Perhaps, if she turns out to be really as sweet and gentle
as she seems--"
The sentence broke off unfinished, in his mind, and ended with a great
sigh.
There could be only second best, and third best things in life for him
now, since love was over, and it would be impossible for him to care for
an angel from heaven, who had not the face and the dear ways of the girl
he had lost. But second best things might be better than no good things
at all, if only one made up one's mind to accept them thankfully. And it
was a shame to waste so much money on himself, when there were
soft-eyed, innocent girls in the world who ought to be sheltered and
protected from harm.
Pages:
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39