“When I loved Dora⁠—fondly, Agnes, as you know⁠—”

“Yes!” she cried, earnestly. “I am glad to know it!”

“When I loved her⁠—even then, my love would have been incomplete, without your sympathy. I had it, and it was perfected. And when I lost her, Agnes, what should I have been without you, still!”

Closer in my arms, nearer to my heart, her trembling hand upon my shoulder, her sweet eyes shining through her tears, on mine!

“I went away, dear Agnes, loving you. I stayed away, loving you. I returned home, loving you!”