It was useless to tell myself that it was the mind and soul revealed in those letters that I loved , and that that mind and soul were Marian Lindsay 's . It was useless to remember that Peter had said she was pretty . Exteriorly , she was a stranger to me ; hers was not the face which had risen before me for nearly a year as the face of the woman I loved . Was ever unlucky wretch in such a predicament before ? Well , there was only one thing to do . I must stand by my word . Marian Lindsay was the woman I had asked to marry me , whose answer I must shortly go to receive . If that answer were `` yes '' I must accept the situation and banish all thought of Dorothy Armstrong 's pretty face . Next evening at sunset I went to `` Glenwood , '' the Lindsay place . Doubtless , an eager lover might have gone earlier , but an eager lover I certainly was not . Probably Marian was expecting me and had given orders concerning me , for the maid who came to the door conveyed me to a little room behind the stairs -- a room which , as I felt as soon as I entered it , was a woman 's pet domain . In its books and pictures and flowers it spoke eloquently of dainty femininity . Somehow , it suited the letters . I did not feel quite so much the stranger as I had felt . Nevertheless , when I heard a light footfall on the stairs my heart beat painfully . I stood up and turned to the door , but I could not look up . The footsteps came nearer ; I knew that a white hand swept aside the portière at the entrance ; I knew that she had entered the room and was standing before me . With an effort I raised my eyes and looked at her . She stood , tall and gracious , in a ruby splendour of sunset falling through the window beside her . The light quivered like living radiance over a dark proud head , a white throat , and a face before whose perfect loveliness the memory of Dorothy Armstrong 's laughing prettiness faded like a star in the sunrise , nevermore in the fullness of the day to be remembered .
Yet it was not of her beauty I thought as I stood spellbound XXXXX her .
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