upon her gaze, as if it afforded him bodily
support. He felt that he ought to stoop and take up his hat, but he
dared not look away from her. "Do you not err now, on the side of
cruelty?" he asked her piteously.

It seemed for the instant as if she were wavering, and he swiftly thrust
forth other pleas. "I admit that I did wrong to follow you to New York.
I see that now. But it was an offence committed in entire good faith.
Think of it, Celia! I have never seen you since that day--that day in
the woods. I have waited--and waited--with no sign from you, no chance
of seeing you at all. Think what that meant to me! Everything in the
world had been altered for me, torn up by the roots. I was a new being,
plunged into a new existence. The kiss had done that. But until saw you
again, I could not tell whether this vast change in me and my life was
for good or for bad--whether the kiss had come to me as a blessing or a
curse. The suspense was killing me, Celia! That is why, when I learned
that you were coming here, I threw everything to the winds and followed
you. You blame me for it, and I bow my head and accept the blame. But
are you justified in punishing me so terribly--in going on after I have
confessed my error, and cutting my heart into little strips, putting me
to death by torture?"

"Sit down," said Celia, with a softened weariness in her voice. She
seated herself in front of him as he sank into his chair again. "I don't
want to give you unnecessary pain, but you have insisted on forcing
yourself into a position where there isn't anything else but pain. I
warned you to go away, but you wouldn't. No matter how gently I may try
to explain things to you, you are bound to get nothing but suffering out
of the explanation. Now shall I still go on?"

He inclined his head in token of assent, and did not lift it again, but
raised toward her a disconsolate gaze from a pallid, drooping face.

"It is all in a single word, Mr. Ware," she proceeded, in low tones.
"I speak for others as well as myself, mind you--we find that you are a
bore."

Theron's stiffened countenance remained immovable. He continued to stare
unblinkingly up into her eyes.

"We were disposed to like you very much when we first knew you,"
Celia went on. "You impressed us as an innocent, simple, genuine young
character, full of mother's milk. It was like the smell of early spring
in the country to come in contact with you. Your honesty of nature,
your since