Was I the only one sad at the end? :(

I know Gary Cooper's character was a serious legit ASS! And I have seen many, many Gary Cooper movies, he is one of my most favorite actors from classic Hollywood. I have never seen him play such a mean, nasty character who is just verbally abusive to everyone around him, no matter how much they try to be his friend, be there for him, love him, it's no matter.

I understand that his singular pursuit of obtaining the Singleton home and becoming the #1 tobacco king leads to his demise and his undoing. I am not even saying that it is undeserved, because by that point in the film, he does deserve it.

But.

Can I really be the only one who saw this movie who seriously felt sad for Royle at the very end, when he loses Sonia, and he leaves Kingsmont utterly alone?

His character did finally, after Margaret stole millions from his company and set him up with a former employee, see the error of his ways and redeem himself. He lets the Singleton home burn completely to the ground, realizing that it represents his dogged pursuit of destroying someone else, only to end up destroying himself. He realizes how much he hurt Sonia when she only wanted to love him and how wrong he was. And he swallows his pride and apologizes to Sonia not once - but twice - and admits, that among all the multitude of wrongs he has committed, losing her is the worst mistake he has ever made.

Is there something so wrong with giving people a second chance? I don't know, I was really torn at the end of the movie. A part of me felt, yes, it would have seemed unbelievable to have Sonia leap into his arms or something like that at the end. But could it have ended just with her forgiving him and then like a fade to black? Like something more ambiguous where she truly forgives him and then you don't know what happens after that.

There is definitely an argument to be made that it is "too little, too late", and although Royle is sincere in his apology, that Sonia has no reason that she has to accept it. But like I said, I just feel that when people truly have an awakening and experience redemption, that they deserve to be given a second chance. They don't have to be given it but I feel they deserve it.

I just felt so sad for Royle at the end :( Anyone else?