“I have made up my mind,” Edith said, shuddering. “There is but one way
for escape, we must bury our love, I must be sacrificed.”
“No,” I protested. “You do not, you cannot love me.”
Edith turned deadly pale and gave me one look. The cruel words died on
my lips. Then we sat and brooded. Edith sprang to her feet and
exclaimed, “I have it, the one chance.”
There was a ring in her voice from which hope was bred.
“Tell me, name it,” I cried.
“You will have to consent,” she said slowly, as if weighing every word.
“Then I consent.”
“It is an inspiration,” she continued, “I will tell Fred Reingold that I
will marry him one year from to-morrow, provided the twenty thousand
dollars is not paid by that time. You will have one year in which to
make a fortune.”
“But will he consent to such terms?”
“Yes, if he loves me.”
My hopes sank to zero, then froze.
“I have not finished,” Edith said, she had divined my thoughts, “they
have found great gold fields on the Yukon, it is a frightful country on
the confines of Alaska. You must go there and find a fortune and be back
in time.”
“But how?” I asked.
“That shall be a secret until you come back. I will see Fred Reingold
to-morrow and to-morrow night you shall know your fate.”
The following evening she met me at the door and smiled. “It is all
arranged,” she said. “The year has been granted, you are to go.”
“When?”
“To-morrow morning on the first train.”
“But,”--I never finished the sentence.
“Every hour means success or failure,” Edith exclaimed reproachfully.
How that evening fled away we only realized.
When I kissed her good-bye she slipped three crisp one-hundred-dollar
bills into my hand. Then she whispered, “remember this is St. Patrick’s
day, March the 17th, and the time will expire at twelve o’clock at
night, one year from to-day. I must give you something to bring you good
luck, what shall it be?”
“That which you love the best, next to me.”
She glanced around the room, at her feet on a white rug lay a small
black kitten. “There he is,” she said, pointing to the kitten, “my
second love.”