Help me, Madelene.
Help me to be what we both wish me to be--what I can't help being, with you by my side." When a vanity of superiority rests on what used to be, it dies much harder than when it rests upon what is.

But Arthur's self-infatuation, based though it was on the "used-to-be," then and there crumbled and vanished forever.

Love cleared his sight in an instant, where reason would have striven in vain against the stubborn prejudices of snobbism.
Madelene's instinct had searched out the false ring in his voice and manner; it was again instinct that assured her all was now well.

And she straightway, and without hesitation from coquetry or doubt, gave herself frankly to the happiness of the love that knows it is returned in kind and in degree.
"Yes, everything else will come right," she said.

"For you _are_ strong, Arthur." "I shall be," was his reply, as he held her closer.