He did ask me again."
"That night?" cried Bernard.
"The night he came back from England--the last time I saw him, until
to-day."
"After I had denounced you?" our puzzled hero exclaimed, frowning
portentously.
"I am sorry to let you know the small effect of your words!"
Bernard folded his hands together--almost devoutly--and stood gazing at
her with a long, inarticulate murmur of satisfaction.
"Ah! then, I did n't injure you--I did n't deprive you of a chance?"
"Oh, sir, the intention on your part was the same!" Angela exclaimed.
"Then all my uneasiness, all my remorse, were wasted?" he went on.
But she kept the same tone, and its tender archness only gave a greater
sweetness to his sense of relief.
"It was a very small penance for you to pay."
"You dismissed him definitely, and that was why he vanished?" asked
Bernard, wondering still.
"He gave me another 'chance,' as you elegantly express it, and I
declined to take advantage of it."
"Ah, well, now," cried Bernard, "I am sorry for him!"
"I was very kind--very respectful," said Angela. "I thanked him from the
bottom of my heart; I begged his pardon very humbly for the wrong--if
wrong it was--that I was doing him.
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