"
Roderick shrugged his shoulders and let his hands drop at his sides.
"She adores me! That 's my relation." And he smiled strangely.
"Have you broken your engagement?"
"Broken it? You can't break a ray of moonshine."
"Have you absolutely no affection for her?"
Roderick placed his hand on his heart and held it there a moment.
"Dead--dead--dead!" he said at last.
"I wonder," Rowland asked presently, "if you begin to comprehend the
beauty of Miss Garland's character. She is a person of the highest
merit."
"Evidently--or I would not have cared for her!"
"Has that no charm for you now?"
"Oh, don't force a fellow to say rude things!"
"Well, I can only say that you don't know what you are giving up."
Roderick gave a quickened glance. "Do you know, so well?"
"I admire her immeasurably."
Roderick smiled, we may almost say sympathetically. "You have not wasted
time."
Rowland's thoughts were crowding upon him fast. If Roderick was
resolute, why oppose him? If Mary was to be sacrificed, why, in that
way, try to save her? There was another way; it only needed a little
presumption to make it possible.
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