"Elsie:
"No one will ever know how I have tried to obliterate the memory of a sinful past, and make you the husband, which—noble girl that you are—you deserve. I have long recognized the fact that the old miserable ideas which we have discussed so often, and which led to our marriage, were impossible. I say I have tried to become a good, manly husband to you. I thought I had succeeded until this morning, and so did you, poor girl, but it seems we were both mistaken. I am a wretch. Forget me. Return to England with the Donaldsons next week. I shall come to you no more. After this final step, it would of course be impossible. I make no excuses for myself. I am not worth any, and no one recognizes that fact more than,
The room seemed to be revolving. An awful giddiness overwhelmed me, and I fell heavily to the floor.
