when I found you were
going--and going back to dreariness, as I was--I didn't see why we
shouldn't have a few hours together first; so I left your letter in my
pocket."

He saw her face melt as she listened, and suddenly she unclasped her
hands and leaned to him.

"But are YOU unhappy too? Oh, I never understood--I never dreamed it! I
thought you'd always had everything in the world you wanted!"

Darrow broke into a laugh at this ingenuous picture of his state. He
was ashamed of trying to better his case by an appeal to her pity, and
annoyed with himself for alluding to a subject he would rather have
kept out of his thoughts. But her look of sympathy had disarmed him; his
heart was bitter and distracted; she was near him, her eyes were shining
with compassion--he bent over her and kissed her hand.

"Forgive me--do forgive me," he said.

She stood up with a smiling head-shake. "Oh, it's not so often that
people try to give me any pleasure--much less two whole days of it!
I sha'n't forget how kind you've been. I shall have plenty of time to
remember. But this IS good-bye, you know. I must telegraph at once to
say I'm coming."

"To say you're coming? Then I'm not forgiven?"

"Oh, you're forgiven--if that's any comfort."

"It's not, the very least, if your way of proving it is to go away!"

She hung her head in meditation. "But I can't stay.--How CAN I stay?"
she broke out, as if arguing with some unseen monitor.

"Why can't you? No one knows you're here...No one need ever know."

She looked up, and their eyes exchanged meanings for a rapid minute. Her
gaze was as clear as a boy's. "Oh, it's not THAT," she exclaimed,
almost impatiently; "it's not people I'm afraid of! They've never put
themselves out for me--why on earth should I care about them?"

He liked her directness as he had never liked it before. "Well, then,
what is it? Not ME, I hope?"

"No, not you: I like you. It's the money! With me that's always the root
of the matter. I could never yet afford a treat in my life!"

"Is _THAT_ all?" He laughed, relieved by her naturalness. "Look here;
since we re talking as man to man--can't you trust me about that too?"

"Trust you? How do you mean? You'd better not trust ME!" she laughed
back sharply. "I might never be able to pay up!"

His gesture brushed aside the allusion. "Money may be the root of the
matter; it can't be the whole of it, between friends. Don't you think
one friend may accept a small ser