"My dear Maud," he said, "there
are a good many things I can't do, and one of them is this. I can't hold
any woman against her will--no, not if she were my wife ten times over. I
wouldn't have let her go to Spentoli. But Bunny is a different matter. I
have Jake's word for it that he will make her a better husband than I
shall. If Bunny wants to know all about her past--her parentage--he can
come to me and I can satisfy him. Tell him that! But if he really loves
her--he won't care a damn--any more than I do."
"Ah!" Maud said.
She stood a moment, looking at him, and in her eyes was that mother-look
of a love that understands. She held out her hand to him.
"Thank you for telling me, Charlie," she said. "Good-bye!"
He held her hand. "What have I told you?" he asked abruptly.
She shook her head. "Never mind now! You have just made me understand,
that's all. I will give your message to Bunny--to them both. Good-bye!"
He stooped in his free, gallant way to kiss her hand. "After all," he
said, "I return to my old allegiance. It was you, _chere reine_, who
taught me how to love."
She gently freed her hand and turned to go. "No," she said. "I think it
was God who taught you that.
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