"
"But how can I be as good as you are? It isn't in me."
"I am not good, Edward. There is none good but God," answered the wife
solemnly.
"Oh yes, yes! You are an angel!" returned Claire, with a sudden
emotion that he could not control. "And I--and I--"
He checked himself, turned his face partly away to conceal its
expression, sat motionless for a moment, and then burying his face
on the bosom of his wife, sobbed for the space of nearly a minute,
overcome by a passion that he in vain struggled to master.
Never had Edith seen her husband so moved. No wonder that she was
startled, even frightened.
"Oh, Edward, dear Edward! what ails you?" were her eager, agitated
words, so soon as she could speak. "What has happened? Oh, tell me, my
husband, my dear husband!"
But Claire answered not, though he was gaining some control over his
feelings.
"Oh, Edward! won't you speak to me? Won't you tell me all your
troubles, all your heart? Am I not your wife, and do I not love you
with a love no words can express? Am I not your best and closest
friend? Would I not even lay down my life for your good? Dear Edward,
what has caused this great emotion?"
Thus urged, thus pleaded the tearful Edith. But there was no reply,
though the strong tremor which had thrilled through the frame of
Claire had subsided.
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