e before?" he pleaded.

"Yes."

"I just felt you did, and that's what give me courage. Oh, Kiddo, you've
got to love me a little--I've never been loved by a human soul in all my
life. The first thing I remember was hidin' under a stoop from a brute
who beat me every night. I ran away and slept in barrels and crawled
into coal shutes till I was big enough to earn a livin' sellin' papers.
For years I never knew what it meant to have enough to eat. I just
scratched and fought my way through the streets like a little hungry
wolf till I got in a blacksmith's shop down on South Street and learned
to handle tools. I was quick and smart, and the old man liked me and let
me sleep in the shop. I had enough to eat then and got strong as an ox.
I went to the night schools and learned to read and write. I don't know
anything, but I'm quick and you can teach me--you will, won't you?"

"I'll try," was the low answer.

"You do like me, Kiddo? Say it again!"

She rose to her feet and looked out over the sea, her face scarlet.

"Yes, I do," she said at last.

With a sudden resistless sweep he clasped her in his arms and kissed her
lips.

Her heart leaped in mad response to the first kiss a lover had ever
given. Her body quivered and relaxed in his embrace. It was sweet--it
was wonderful beyond words.

He kissed her again, and she clung to him, lifting her eyes to his at
last in a long, wondering gaze and then pressed her own lips to his.

"Oh, my God, Kiddo, you love me! It beats the world, don't it? Love at
first sight for both of us! I've heard about it, but I didn't think it
would ever happen to me like this--did you?"

She shook her head and bit her lips as the tears slowly dimmed her eyes.

"It takes my breath," she murmured. "I can't realize what it all means.
It seems too wonderful to be true."

"And you won't turn me down because I don't know who my father and
mother was?"

"No--my heart goes out to you in a great pity for your lonely, wretched
boyhood."

"I couldn't help that--now could I?"

"Of course not. It's wonderful that you've made your way alone and won
the fight of life."

He gripped her hands and held her at arms' length, devouring her with
his deep, slumbering eyes.

"Gee, but you're a brick, little girl! I thought you were an angel when
I first saw you. Now I know it. Just watch me work for you! I'll show
you a thing or two. You'll marry me right away, won't you?"

He bent close, his breath o