"Every penny that I possess in the world is at your
command. I am ready to begin life again, a worker for my daily bread,
rather than that you should suffer one hour's pain, one moment's
humiliation, that money can prevent."
"You are too generous, too noble," exclaimed Paulina, in a broken
voice. "The only way in which I can prove my gratitude for your
delicate goodness is by being perfectly candid. My life has been a
strange one, Mr. Dale--a life of apparent prosperity, but of real
poverty. Before I was old enough to know the value of a fortune, I was
robbed of that which should have been mine, and robbed by the father
who should have protected my interests. From that hour I have known
little except trouble. I was married to a man whom I never loved--
married at the command of the father who had robbed me. If I have not
fallen, as many other women so mated have fallen, I take no pride in my
superior strength of mind. It may be that temptation such as lures
other women to their ruin never approached me. Since my husband died,
my life, as you too well know, has been a degraded one. I have been the
companion and friend of gamesters. It is, indeed, only since I came to
England that I have myself ceased to be a gambler. Can you remember all
this, Mr. Dale, and yet pity me?"
"I can remember it all, and yet love you, Paulina," answered Douglas,
with emotion.
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