"Confound him! I don't suppose I could do anything. I want to make you happy, Madge. I feel just like taking the idiot by the ear, bringing him to you, and saying, 'There, you unconscionable fool, look at that girl--' You know what I mean. I'm suggesting the spirit, not the letter of my action. But, Madge, believe me, if I could help you at any cost to myself--" "Is your regard for me, of which you spoke, so slight that you could go to work deliberately to bring that man to me?" "There is no regard about it. My _love_ for you is so great that I would do anything to make you happy." "Madge," called the voice of Mrs. Muir, who was following them with her husband, "where are you and Graydon?" "Here!" cried Madge, springing up. Then she gave her hand to him, and he saw that there were tears in her eyes. "Graydon," she said, "I couldn't ask a stronger test than that. I can't tell you how I appreciate it. I shall never impose any such task upon you." "Don't hesitate on my account. I admit that it would be harder than one of the labors of Hercules, but you command me now and always. Nothing is so bad as to know that you are unhappy." "Do I seem very unhappy?" "No, you brave little woman! but who could guess the truth if you were? My knowledge is not derived from your usual manner." "It is a pity if I cannot be patient when you set me so good an example," she said, as Mr. and Mrs. Muir approached. When they were alone again for a brief time during the ramble, Graydon resumed: "I wish to make sure of your confidence, Madge; I wish you to take me at my word. I don't think you have been quite just to me. I am not a cold-blooded fellow, and, no doubt, am given to impressions and impulses; but I think constancy is one of my traits. I never wavered in my affection for you until I misunderstood you immediately after my return, and then that very misapprehension kept me worried and perplexed much of the time. I was true to Miss Wildmere as long as there was anything to be constant to, and yet for years she was scarcely anything more than a fancy, a preference. Since my return you know just what she was to me. Nothing is more certain than that I never loved her. I did not know what the word meant then. There is a chapter in your history that I don't know much about, but I am sure I could make good my word to do anything within my power to bring you happiness. I have imagined that a little management, guided by tact and absolute fidelity--" "Don't say anything more about that, Graydon," she said, firmly. "Not if my heart broke a thousand times would I seek a man or permit him to be sought for me in any such way as you suggest." "That's settled, then." "That's settled forever." "Well, in that case," he said, with a short, nervous laugh, "there may be a chance for me within the next hundred years." "Are you so willing to take a woman who had once given her heart to another?"