aw Mary
standing at his side.

"I don't want to say anything now," she said, "about what you have just
told us. Some of it I had half-guessed, some of it I had conjectured.
But why didn't you tell me! Before! It wasn't that you hadn't
confidence?"

"Confidence!" he exclaimed. "There was only one reason--I wanted to get
your father's memory cleared--as far as possible--before ever telling
you anything. I've been wanting to tell you! Hadn't you seen that I
hated to keep silent?"

"Hadn't you seen that I wanted to share all your trouble about it?" she
asked. "That was what hurt me--because I couldn't!"

Ransford drew a long breath and looked at her. Then he put his hands on
her shoulders.

"Mary!" he said. "You--you don't mean to say--be plain!--you don't mean
that you can care for an old fellow like me?"

He was holding her away from him, but she suddenly smiled and came
closer to him.

"You must have been very blind not to have seen that for a long time!"
she answered.

End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Paradise Mystery, by J. S. Fletcher

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