"You have made
me think so several times."
"I'm not ashamed of it," he said. "I've had fancies for women, but I
have never felt this way before. It seems to me if I was to live a
thousand years I'd never, never feel that you was like other women.
Maybe you love me real deep, and maybe you just fancy me, but I'll
never want any other human being like I want you. I have been a bad
man--a careless, thoughtless man. Ever since I was a boy I have played
with love. I was playing with fire--the fire of hell, Harriet--and I
got burnt. In consequence of what I've done I suffer as no mortal ever
suffered. Repentance brings contentment to some men, but they are not
built like me. I don't do anything from morning to night but brood and
brood over my past life."
"I thought you had had some trouble," she returned, sympathetically.
"Why did you think so?" he asked.
"You talked when you were out of your head. That's why I first took
pity on you. I never saw a man suffer in mind as you did. You rolled
and tumbled the first two or three nights and begged for forgiveness;
often you spoke so loud I was afraid others in the house would hear.
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