. I'll say it for you, when I come to it. There's a
lot before that."

Ward Warren had never before opened his soul to any human; not
completely. Perhaps, sitting that evening in the deepening dusk, with
the firelight lighting swiftly the brooding face of the girl and
afterward veiling it softly with shadows, perhaps even then there were
desolate places in his life which his words did not touch. But so much
as a man may put into words, Ward told her; more, a great deal more,
than he would ever tell to any other woman as long as he lived. More
perhaps than he would ever tell to any man. And in it all there was no
word of love. It was of what lay behind him that he talked. The low,
even murmur of his voice was broken by long, brooding silences, when
the two stared into the shifting flames and saw there the things his
words had conjured. Sometimes the eyes of Billy Louise were soft with
sympathy. Sometimes they were wide and held the light of horror.
Once, with a small sob that had no tears, she reached out and clutched
his arm. "Oh, don't!" she gasped. "Don't go on telling--I--I can't
bear to listen to that!"

"It isn't nice for a woman to listen to, I guess," Ward gritted. "I
know it was hell to stand, but--" He was silent so long after that,
and his eyes grew so intent and so somber while he stared, that Billy
Louise pulled at his sleeve to recall him.

"Skip that part and tell me--"

Ward took up the story and told her much; more than she had ever
dreamed could be. I can't repeat any of it; what he said was for Billy
Louise to know and none other.

It was late when she finally rose from the stool and lighted the lamp
because her mother woke and called to her. Ward went out to turn the
horses into the stable and fasten the door. He should have sheltered
them two hours before. Billy Louise should long ago have made tea and
toast for her mother, for that matter. But when life's big, bitter
problems confront one, little things are usually forgotten.

They came back to everyday realities, though the spell which Ward's
impulsive unburdening had woven still wrapped them in that close
companionship of complete understanding. They played checkers for an
hour or so and then went to bed. Billy Louise lay in a waking
nightmare because of all the hard things she had heard about life.
Ward stared up into the dark and could not lose himself in sleep,
because he had opened the door upon the evil places in h