“I wish it would. My looks will never matter to anybody,” she said desperately.
He put his arm round her shoulders, just as he had done since she could remember.
“What has happened to distress you--more than usual?” he added.
She was silent for a moment, and hung her head.
“I've broken off with Tony,” she said in a low voice.
“You'll mend it up with Tony at once, my dear.”
“You'll write and tell him that you'll marry him at the very first opportunity. There are reasons why you should, Aline, grave reasons.”
“You wouldn't have me marry any one I dislike intensely?” she flashed.
“Wouldn't you do it to please me, even though you hated him violently? I have been going to speak to you about this. It's high time you were married, dear, and I particularly wish it. So make friends with Tony as soon as ever you can.”
“I never want to see Tony again--until he has gone on his bended knees to you,” said Aline, with a quivering lip. “I don't want to breathe the same air with any one who does n't think of you as I do.”
This was the first allusion that the girl had made to unhappy things, since they had become common knowledge a month ago. She had conveyed to him by increased tenderness and devotion that she loved him all the more for his suffering, and it had been easy for him to perceive that the main facts of the story were not unknown to her. But hitherto there had been absolute silence on the part of each. He had been greatly puzzled as to the proper course he should take. An interview with Tony Merewether that morning had decided him. It had been short, coldly courteous on the young fellow's side, who merely asked and obtained consent to marry Aline forthwith, and wistfully dignified on Jimmie's.
He sat down on the arm of a chair and took her hand, deeply moved by her passionate faith in him.
“Listen, dear. I am a dishonoured man and it is n't right that you should live with me any longer. Tony, dear good fellow, is no more to blame for what he thinks of me than the crazy wronged man who shot me. But the only way for you to make him think better is to marry him. No, don't interrupt. Stand quietly and let me talk to you. I've been making plans and I should be tremendously upset if there was any difficulty. I'm going to give up the house and studio.”