She is a noble girl, worthy even to be Mrs. Thornton Hastings,
and if I cannot have her, I would rather give her to you than any
one I know. Only don't ask me to perform the ceremony.
"There, I've let the secret out; but no matter, I have always
confided in you, and so I may as well confess that I have offered
myself and been refused. Yours truly,
"ARTHUR LEIGHTON."
The rector felt better after that letter was written. He had told his
grievance to some one, and it seemed to have lightened half.
"Thorne is a good fellow," he said, as he directed the letter. "A
little fast, it's true, but a splendid fellow, after all. He will
sympathize with me in his way, and I would rather give Anna to him
than any other living man."
Arthur was serious in what he said, for, wholly unlike as they were,
there was between him and Thornton Hastings one of those strong,
peculiar friendships which sometimes exist between two men, but rarely
between two women, of so widely different temperaments. They had
roomed together four years in college, and countless were the
difficulties from which the sober Arthur had extricated the luckless
Thorne, while many a time the rather slender means of Arthur had been
increased in a way so delicate that expostulation was next to
impossible.
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