A Little Traitor to the South | Page 6

she said, giving him her hand, "I esteem you, I honor you, I respect you. I do not believe what this--what has been said about you. But I do not love you." She drew away from him. "You were mistaken. There is no choice between you, for I love neither of you. I do not love anybody. I hate you both!" she flashed out inconsistently. "Now go! I don't want to see either of you again."
She buried her face in her hands and burst into tears.
"I will do something to deserve your praise," said Sempland, in his deep voice, turning away.
"Miss Glen," said Lacy, most graciously,--Fanny Glen's presence seemed to call all that was good in him to the surface,--"no one has respected me, or trusted me, or honored me as you have, for years. Sempland cannot rob me of that, even though he should win you. Good-by, and, if it be not grotesque from me, may God bless you!"
CHAPTER III
A STRIFE IN MAGNANIMITY
"Well, Sempland," said Lacy, with astonishing courtesy and forbearance under all the circumstances, as he overtook the other man plodding along the shaded street, "you don't seem to be in much greater favor with the young lady than I."
"Lacy," returned the other, "you did well this evening. You are not good enough for Miss Glen, I still think. Nobody is, for that matter, but you less than others. My opinion of you, you know--"
"Faith, all the world may know it apparently!"
"That's unjust. I have never mentioned it to any one, and should not have expressed it to Miss Glen had it not been to save her. But you showed the stuff that was in you, that used to be in you, to-night. It was fine. I thank you for having said--" he paused.
"What?" asked Lacy.
"Why, that about my not having had a chance, you know."
"Oh, that was a trifle."
"I know. But not many men would have said it at the time."
"I tell you what it is, Sempland. I like you, I always have liked you. When I--er--dropped out of the old set, you know, before the war, I didn't mind giving up any one so much as you. And I was sorry for you to-night. You hadn't had a chance. God knows I love the girl, but I am not the man for her. I would break her heart in a month. You don't know women, I take it, but I think she will be yours in the end. I give her to you."
"She is not yours to give."
"No, I know she isn't. But I withdraw in your favor."
"I don't want that sort of a fair field. Harry," went on the other man, unconsciously dropping into the familiar form of boyhood, which caused Lacy's face to flush with pleasure, "I am sure she loves you. I thought it was I, at first, but since this afternoon I have changed my mind. Why can't you be different? You are not a fit man to marry any honest woman now, and when I thought of your record I doubted that you ever would be. I was sure you would not, but--see here, old man! Throw the past aside! A fellow that's got it in him to do what you have done for the South--why can't you control yourself? Turn over a new leaf. I love her, too. She's more to me than life itself, but her happiness is more than mine. If she loves you, and wants you, make yourself worthy of her. By heaven, I'll help you, if it kills me! You thought I was harsh to-day. I swear to you if you succeed nobody will acknowledge it quicker than I!"
"Will you tell her so?"
"I will!"
"Rhett," said the other man, stretching out his hand, "the woman I love has this day honored me, but by heaven I believe you have honored me more. I did think it was a low-down trick for you to go to Miss Glen, but I know why you did it, and you were right. It's too late. I can never be anything different. My father and grandfather both died in drunken sprees--it's in my blood. I can't help it. I've had a chance or two to do something a little out of the ordinary in this war, thank God for it, but I suppose the reason I was able to carry it through was that I cared little whether I lived or died. No, that isn't true. I'd rather die than live, but I would like to go out of existence doing something fine and noble. I--I--might get a better chance on the other side, then, you know. Life is nothing to me, and there are no possibilities in it."
He spoke bitterly. It was rare that any one saw him in that mood.
"I