WHITEWASH
the atmosphere of vitality, power, and satirical humor, that made up her personality and charm—felt it, and realized with a sudden shock, that there, of all the world, was the woman he might have loved—loved mightily and forever!
This sudden turn of his emotions startled his whole being; undreamt of, in his fight for survival, her splendid truth and physical energy had dominated his imagination. In spite of the trick he had played her, in spite of the mud he had thrown upon her, in spite of the fact that she it was who had set the machinery in motion that now threatened to crush him—he loved her!—yes, loved her!—and a savage, evil joy possessed him that her name had been coupled with his—her fair name brought close in contact with the soil and stain of his own! Victoria! the proud, the self-willed, the defiant!—at least the thread of their lives had met and crossed, and woven an episode.
"Victoria!"
He spoke the name aloud, rejoicing in its sound, that suggested trumpets and pageant.
Then his mood relaxed and he lay back, the vision of the girl's strong face still before him.
