"Now I can take more workmen, give better wages, lay wiser and more liberal plans, do some good, be less selfish. _Now_, Caroline, I can have a house--a home which I can truly call mine--and _now_----"
He paused, for his deep voice was checked.
"And _now_," he resumed--"now I can think of marriage, _now_ I can seek a wife."
This was no moment for her to speak. She did not speak.
"Will Caroline, who meekly hopes to be forgiven as she forgives--will she pardon all I have made her suffer, all that long pain I have wickedly caused her, all that sickness of body and mind she owed to me? Will she forget what she knows of my poor ambition, my sordid schemes? Will she let me expiate these things? Will she suffer me to prove that, as I once deserted cruelly, trifled wantonly, injured basely, I can now love faithfully, cherish fondly, treasure tenderly?"

Now I can take more workmen, give better wages, lay wiser plans, do some good, be less selfish. Now, Caroline, I can have a house - a home - and now-"
He paused.
"And now I can think of marriage; now I can seek a wife."
She did not speak.
"Will Caroline pardon all I have made her suffer, all that long pain I have wickedly caused her, all that sickness she owed to me? Will she forget what she knows of my poor ambition, my sordid schemes? Will she let me prove that, as I once deserted cruelly, trifled wantonly, I can now love faithfully, cherish tenderly?"
