I have
loved you, Howard, more than you can know, or I can ever tell; but
I am not worthy of you. I do not satisfy the higher feelings of
your heart; I am not what _your_ wife should be, and for this
I must die. Many a night, when you were sleeping at my side, have
I lain awake, asking myself why _I_, to whom the world was so
beautiful and bright, must leave it so soon; and as I thought over
the events of our short married life, the answer came to me, 'I
cannot make you happy as you ought to be, and for your sake I am
taken away.'"
"Oh, Ella, Ella!" groaned Mr. Hastings, laying his head beside
hers, upon the pillow.
From his inmost soul he knew that what she said was true; but for
this he would not that she should die. She had been to him a
gentle, loving wife, the one he had chosen from all others to
share his home; and though he had failed to find in her the
companion he had sought, she was very dear to him--was the mother
of his child; and the strong man's heart was full of anguish as he
thought of giving her up so soon.
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