Muir, a little confusedly. "Well, you see, Madge
and I understood Miss Wildmere from the first."
"Oh, hang Miss Wildmere! Do you think Madge--"
"Now stop right there, Graydon. I think Madge is the best and most
sensible girl I ever knew, and that's all you will ever get out of
me."
"Pardon me, Henry. I spoke from impulse, and not a worthy one, either.
I tell you point blank, however, that Madge Alden hasn't her equal in
the world. I would love her in a moment if I dared. Would to Heaven
I could have spent some time with her immediately after my return! In
that case there would have been no Wildmere folly. I declare, Henry,
when I thought she must be killed the other day I felt that the end
of my own life had come. I can't tell you what that girl is to me; but
with her knowledge of the past how can I approach her in decency?"
"Well," said Mr. Muir, shrugging his shoulders and rising to retire,
"you are out of the worst part of your scrape, and Madge is alive
and well. This is not a little to be thankful for. I shall confine my
advice to business matters. Still, were I in your shoes, I know what I
should do. 'Faint heart,' you know. Good-night."
Graydon did not move, or scarcely answer, but, with every faculty of
mind concentrated, he thought, "Henry's explanation of his use of the
present tense does not explain, and there is more meaning in what he
left unsaid in our recent interview than in what he said.
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