So he told how he had met the lovely belle of the Porto Rico capital--the strange and romantic manner in which Providence seemed to delight in throwing them together, and how he was enabled to save her great inconvenience, if not her life--of the mutual attachment that naturally sprang up between them that rapidly ripened into a passion--of their engagement and the glorious weeks succeeding, when they lived in Paradise.
Then came the serpent in Eden--coquetry on the girl's part, rank jealousy on his, without just cause it had proved.
After that, hot words, violent separation--the old, old story of wounded hearts, so many times repeated in the history of the world--of two souls intended for each other, wandering about the earth estranged, because of hasty temper.
To all of this Cleo listened with deepest sympathy marked upon her face.
What pain her heart experienced would never be known to the world, for she crushed this down with a resolute hand.
Woman was created to withstand most of the suffering in this world--Providence endowed her with a larger capacity for such endurance than man; just as the lord of creation was given the spirit of the chase, of battle, and as the bread-winner in life's strife.
Finally Roderic brought the story to Dublin and told how Georgia disguised as a Sister of the Holy Grail, warned him, though so well had she concealed her identity that he had not guessed it until after she had gone.
This brought him down to the time he was passing on the Rathmine car, and had a glimpse of the girl he loved in the window of the quaint East India bungalow.
He was a good story teller, and the subject one in which his whole heart was engaged, so that he quickly held the girl spell-bound as he described how the reconciliation was brought about.
When he finally told how Georgia allowed him to take her in his arms, Cleo smiled to hide the aching heart she carried, and which she feared might betray its pain upon her face.
"You love her with a deathless devotion, cousin--she has become a _sine qua non_ to your existence?" she remarked, to hide her little tremor, her pallor and any confusion that might appear.
"She is the life of my life--I had gone to the point of being an old bachelor, cousin, without ever falling in love--indeed, I had begun to doubt seriously whether my nature was capable of any passion, for my devotion to your cousinly self had been the only affection I had ever known--when she crossed my path like a brilliant meteor and from that day to this I have not known the old peace. Yes, I love her with heart and soul--as you say it truly seems as though this dark-eyed girl had become an indispensable condition to my existence. I tell you this knowing how much you care for my happiness--how you sympathize with my griefs and rejoice when prosperity finds me."
