"It is a great blow," he said to himself. "Poor Madeline! How she must
suffer!"
Presently he rose and walked--rather unsteadily, for he felt much
upset--to his quarters, and, taking a sheet of notepaper, wrote the
following letter to catch the outgoing mail:--
"My dear Madeline,--I have got your letter putting an end to our
engagement. I don't want to dwell on myself when you must have so much
to suffer, but I must say that it has been, and is, a great blow to me.
I have loved you for so many years, ever since we were babies, I think;
it does seem hard to lose you now after all. I thought that when we got
home I might get the adjutancy of a militia regiment, and that we might
have been married. I think we might have managed on five hundred a year,
though perhaps I have no right to expect you to give up comforts and
luxuries to which you are accustomed; but I am afraid that when one is
in love one is apt to be selfish. However, all that is done with now,
as, of course, putting everything else aside, I could not think of
standing in your way in life. I love you much too well for that, dear
Madeline, and you are too beautiful and delicate to be the wife of a
poor subaltern with little beside his pay.
Pages:
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116