He merely put out his hand and took it from her.

She paused a few seconds, and as he remained silent, she continued: 

“Mr. Hammond is the best friend you have on earth.  Yesterday, having seen you enter the church and suspecting what passed, he spoke to me of you, and oh! he pleaded for you as only he could!  He urged me not to judge you too harshly; not to leave you, and these were his words:  ’Edna, if I, whom he has robbed of all that life made beautiful; if I, standing here alone in my old age, in sight of the graves of my murdered darlings, if I can forgive him, and pray for him, and, as God is my witness, love him! you have no right to visit my injuries and my sorrows upon him!’ Mr. Murray, he can help you, and he will, if you will only permit him.  If you could realize how dearly he is interested in your happiness, you could not fail to reverence that religion which enables him to triumph over all the natural feelings of resentment.  Mr. Murray, you have declared again and again that you love me.  Oh, if it be true, meet me in heaven!  I know that I am weak and sinful; but I am trying to correct the faults of my character, I am striving to do what I believe to be my duty, and I hope at last to find a home with my God.  For several years, ever since you went abroad, I have been praying for you; and while I live I shall not cease to do so.  Oh! will you not pray for yourself?  Mr. Murray, I believe I shall not be happy even in heaven if I do not see you there.  On earth we are parted—­your crimes divide us; but there! there!  Oh! for my sake, make an effort to redeem yourself, and meet me there!”

She felt his strong frame tremble, and a heavy shuddering sigh broke from his lips and swept across her cheek.  But when he spoke his words contained no hint of the promise she longed to receive: 

“Edna, my shadow has fallen across your heart, and I am not afraid that you will forget me.  You will try to do so, you will give me as little thought as possible; you will struggle to crush your aching heart, and endeavor to be famous.  But amid your ovations the memory of a lonely man, who loves you infinitely better than all the world for which you forsook him, will come like a breath from the sepulchre, to wither your bays; and my words, my pleading words, will haunt you, rising above the paeans of your public worshippers.  When the laurel crown you covet now shall become a chaplet of thorns piercing your temples, or a band of iron that makes your brow ache, you will think mournfully of the days gone by, when I prayed for the privilege of resting your weary head here on my heart.  You can not forget me.  Sinful and unworthy as I confess myself, I am conqueror, I triumph now, even though you never permit me to look upon your face again; for I believe I have a place in my darling’s heart which no other man, which not the whole world can usurp or fill!  You are too proud to acknowledge it, too truthful to deny it; but, my pure Pearl, my heart feels it