Three Men And a Maid

When I said I would marry you, you were a hero to me. You stood to me for everything that was noble and brave and wonderful. I had only to shut my eyes to conjure up the picture of you as you dived off the rail that morning. Now--her voice trembled--"if I shut my eyes now,--I can only see a man with a hideous black face making himself the laughing stock of the ship. How can I marry you, haunted by that picture?"