Every instinct of chivalry called upon him to
protect her from the weakness she did not even guess. She had
given him her kindness and her friendship, the dear child! It was
up to him to be worthy of them. If he failed her he would be a
creature forever lost to decency.
There was a sob in his throat as Jeff pushed the blade back into
the worn scabbard and rehung the sword upon the wall. But the eyes
in his lifted face were very bright. He too would keep his sword
unstained and the flag of honor flying.
All through the next day and the next his resolution held. He took
pains not to see her alone, though there was not an hour of the
day when he could get away from the thought of her. The uneasy
consciousness was with him that the issue was after all only
postponed, that decisions of this kind must be made again and
again so long as opportunity and desire go together. And there
were moments of reaction when his will was like a rope of sand,
when the longing for her swept over him like a great wave.
As Jeff slipped quietly into the hall the door of her room opened.
Their eyes met, and presently hers fell. She was troubled and
ashamed at what she had done, but plainly eager in her innocence
to be forgiven.
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