"
Instead of flushing at the taunt, Waring's face grew paler, and there
shot across it a sharp spasm of pain.
"So you can not understand disinterestedness," he said. "Before I
ventured on interference, I was aware of the certain consequences, and
weighed them all. Miss Tresilyan thought she had done me some wrong; and
I trusted to her generosity to help me when I spoke for the right. But I
knew that the spell could only be used once, and that the canceled debt
could not be revived. I shall never speak to her--perhaps never see
her--on earth again. Do you imagine I love her less for that? Hear this:
I suppose I have as much pride as most men; but I would kneel down here
and set your foot on my neck if I thought the humiliation would save her
one iota of shame or sorrow."
Keene was fairly vanquished. He was filled with a great contempt for his
own guilty passion, compared with the pure self-sacrifice of Mark's
simple chivalry. He raised his eyes from the ground, on which they had
been bent gloomily while the other was speaking, and answered without
hesitation, "I owe you some amends for much that has been said to-night;
and I will not keep you in suspense a moment unnecessarily.
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