Page:The Redemption of Anthony (1911).djvu/134

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.

THE REDEMPTION OF ANTHONY

listen. It seems best that there should be truth between us at last. Years ago, when Tony first began to monopolize my life, I knew that I loved him, and after a year of bitter suffering I realized that he did not love me. After awhile I grew to believe that even a love that is unreturned was better than no love at all. Then you came, and battered down the ramparts I had so carefully built around my heart, and crept inside. There was only room for you and Tony.

"It was fate, I suppose, that decreed that Tony should fall in love with you. I had given him all there was in me, mentally and emotionally, and now it was left me to give him—you. I knew he had come to the time when he needed this tardy awakening. You were young, impressionable, fond of him. I was not sure that you could fill his life alone, but I could help you, always hiding my secret. There was no sacrifice of you, Priscilla."

"No, there was not," she admitted; "but

130