Romantic Passages from Favorite Reads Part V

I had a little difficulty deciding upon my next selection. I wanted a passage from one of Myrtle Reed's novels, but which one? In the end I settled with Old Rose and Silver a charming story set at the turn of the last century. It is a story of unrequited love on the part of the heroine, who, rather than pursue her love selfishly, takes herself away so that the man she loves can be with someone else. The sweetness comes when she discovers not only that the object of her affection has pursued her, but that her love is at last returned. (The hero is a bit dense, but all is right in the end.)

The Book: Old Rose And Silver by Myrtle Reed, Chpt. 24
The Setting: Somewhere in the eastern United States, 1910
The Scene: Allison admits his true feelings for Rose

"Oh, I know,' he flashed back, bitterly. 'I've lost any shadow of right I might ever have had, because I was a blind fool, and I never had any chance anyway. All I can do is to go on loving you, needing you, wanting you; seeing your face before me every hour of the day and night, thirsting for you with every fiber of me. All I have to keep is an empty husk of memory--those few weeks you were kind to me. At least I had you with me though your heart belonged to someone else.'

'Someone else?' she repeated, curiously. The colour was coming back slowly now.

'Yes. Have you forgotten you told me? That day, don't you remember, you said you had loved another man who did not care for you?'

Rose nodded. Her face was like a crimson flower swaying on a slender stem. 'I said,' she began, 'that I had loved a man who did not care for me, and that I always would. Wasn't that it?'

'Something like that. I wish to G-- I could change places with him.'

'Did I,' hesitated Rose, 'are you sure--that I said--another man, or was it just--a man?'

....

'Rose! Rose! Look at me! Tell me, for G--- sake, who he was--or is. I can't bear it!'

She turned toward him. 'Look,' she said, softly. 'Look in my face and see.' For a tense instant he hesitated. Then, with a little cry of joy, he clasped her close forever, having seen his own face mirrored in her happy eyes."

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*At the beginning of the 20th century it was not uncommon for males to have the name "Allison"

Old Rose & Silver (reviewed)