"
Helen buried her face in the yellow curls, and when she turned away her
eyes were wet.
I stayed at the studio only long enough to beg Kitty to see that her
charge rests. Just as we were parting at the door, Helen turned full on me
her great, lambent eyes.
"Do you love me?" she asked suddenly.
"Why, I loved you," I replied, "when you were a little freckled Nelly in
pigtails."
And that, at least, is true! God help me to be kind to the most beautiful
woman in the world!
CHAPTER III.
"P. P. C."
June 21, 19--.
Helen and I were to have been married just a year ago. To-day I have been
going over her own story of her life--of her meeting with Darmstetter, of
the blight he cast upon her, of her growth in loveliness, her brief
fluttering in the sunshine, her failure, her supping with sorrow, her
death.
I must bring to a close the record of this miracle.
This who was the most extraordinary woman that ever lived, was also little
Nellie Winship. Again as I remember her as she was--a thing of such vital
force that no man could be unmoved in her presence, of such supernal
loveliness that words can never tell of it--again I feel that I must be in
an ugly dream.
Pages:
371
372
373
374
375
376
377
378
379
380
381
382
383
384
385
386
387
388
389
390
391
392
393
394
395