It's waiting in front of the
house. Now," he commanded masterfully, "you come with me, and
get in it, and leave all this" -- he gave an angry, contemptuous
wave of the hand toward the cabinet -- "behind you, as," he
added earnestly, "you promised me you would."
As though closing from sight the possibility he suggested, the
girl shut her eyes quickly, and then opened them again to meet
his.
"I can't leave these things behind me," she said quietly.
"I told you so this afternoon. For a moment, you made me think I
could, and I did promise. I didn't need to promise. It's what
I've prayed for. Then, you saw what happened, you saw I was
right. Within five minutes that woman came -- "
"That woman had a motive," protested Winthrop.
"That woman," continued the girl patiently, "or some other
woman. What does it matter? In five minutes, or five days, some
one would have told." She leaned toward him anxiously. "I'm not
complaining," she said; "it's my own fault. It's the life I've
chosen." She hesitated and then as though determined to carry
out a programme she had already laid down for herself, continued
rapidly: "And what I want to tell you, is, that what's best in
that life I owe to you."
"Vera!" cried the man sharply.
"Listen!" said the girl. Her eyes were alight, eager. She spoke
frankly, proudly, without embarrassment, without fear of being
misconstrued, as a man might speak to a man.
"I'd be ungrateful, I'd be a coward," said the girl, "if I went
away and didn't tell you.
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