She had hurried on to get it all over, not daring to look at him until just at the end.  When he did not speak she had to look at last, and see his bowed head—­the dear black head that she loved.

“Oh!” she murmured.  “I ought never to have gone with you to the Yosemite.  If I hadn’t, you would have forgotten me by this time—­perhaps.”

“No,” said Nick.  “I’d not have forgotten you.  Not if I’d never seen you again after that first day in New York.  You see, you were my ideal.  Every man has one, I guess.  And I just recognized you, the first minute, in the hall of the hotel.  I didn’t expect to know you—­and yet, somehow, it was as if I couldn’t let you go—­even then. Have I got to let you go, now, after what you’ve told me?  You’re not the wife of that man—­that prince, except in law.  You don’t love him, and you do love me—­you say you do.  Why, that makes you already more mine than his.”

“Heart and spirit, I’m all yours,” Angela said.  “Oh, Nick, I don’t love you, I worship you, you—­man! I never thought there were men like you.  I don’t believe there are any more.  Paolo di Sereno is—­a mere husk.”

“Divorce him,” Nick implored.  “You’ve got cause.”

“He’s Italian,” she answered.  “So am I, as his wife, in the eyes of the law.  He and his people don’t recognize divorce, even if I——­”

“But here——­” Nick began, then stopped, and shut his lips together.  No, he would not propose that.  Angela guessed what he had wanted to say, and loved him better for not saying it.

“I used to think,” she went on hastily, “that I knew the worst of being married to a man without love.  But now I see I didn’t know half.  A woman can’t know till she loves another man.  Oh, Nick, I can’t get on without you—­not quite without you.  I’ve been trying—­and every day it grows harder instead of easier.  Nothing matters—­but you.  I’m not Paolo di Sereno’s real wife, and he hates me.  So it’s not wrong to love you, Nick, or for you to love me.  Only, we—­we——­”

“You don’t have to get on without me,” said Nick.  “My angel one, you needn’t be frightened.  Wait till I tell you.  I’ll go away—­this minute if you tell me to.  I’ll do whatever you say, because what you say will be right for you, and that’s the important thing.  What I mean is—­I’m always there.  My love can’t change, except to grow bigger and brighter—­and make me more of a man—­so you won’t have to worry about hurting me.  Once I told you we couldn’t be friends, but now I know you better, and what you’ve got in your heart for me—­and what stands between us—­I take that back.  A friend can worship his friend.  I worship you.  I will be your friend, angel, in the biggest sense of the word.”

“Oh, thank you, Nick,” she cried.  “Thank you a thousand times.  Now I can live again—­just thinking—­as you say—­that you’re there.  The world can’t be blank.  But you must go.  I—­I don’t think I could bear this long, and keep true—­to myself—­and——­”