"He began by reminding me of what I had myself told him in speaking of
Romayne. 'You mentioned having heard from Lord Loring of a great sorrow
or remorse from which he was suffering,' Penrose said. 'I know what he
suffers and why he suffers, and with what noble resignation he submits
to his affliction. We were sitting together at the table, looking over
his notes and memoranda, when he suddenly dropped the manuscript from
which he was reading to me. A ghastly paleness overspread his face. He
started up, and put both his hands to his ears as if he heard something
dreadful, and was trying to deafen himself to it. I ran to the door
to call for help. He stopped me; he spoke in faint, gasping tones,
forbidding me to call any one in to witness what he suffered. It was not
the first time, he said; it would soon be over. If I had not courage to
remain with him I could go, and return when he was himself again. I so
pitied him that I found the courage to remain. When it was over he took
me by the hand, and thanked me. I had stayed by him like a friend, he
said, and like a friend he would treat me.
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