l in them, and tears--great
wonderful tears, so sweet and misty that they made him glad with a
thrill of beautiful pain! Her lips were trembling. He longed to kiss
her, yet knew he must wait until he had her permission----

"Allison! Listen! You are dear--_wonderful_--but you don't know a
thing about me!"

"I know all I want to know, and that is a great deal, you darling,
you!" And now he did kiss her, and drew her close into his arms and
would not let her go even when she struggled gently.

"Allison, listen. _Listen_--please! I must tell you! _Wait----!_"

She put her hands against his breast and pushed herself back away from
him where she could look in his face.

"Please, you _must_ let me go and listen to what I have to say!"

"I'll let you go when you tell me yes or no, Jane. Do you, can you
love me? I must know that first. Then you shall have your way."

Jane's eyes did not falter. She looked at him, "You promised, you
know----!"

"Yes, Allison--I love you--but--_NO!_ You must _not_ kiss me again.
You must let me go, and listen--You promised, you know----!"

Allison's arms dropped away from her, but his eyes held her in a long
look of joy.

"All right, darling, go to it"--he said with a joyous sound in his
voice--"I can stand anything now, I know. It seems too good to be true
and it's enough for me. But hurry! A fellow can't wait forever."

"No, Allison, you must sit back and be serious. It isn't really
_happy_, you know--what I have to tell you----!"

Allison became grave at once.

"All right, Jane, only I can't imagine anything terrible enough to
stop this happiness of mine unless you're already married--and have
been concealing it from us all this time----!"

In spite of herself Jane laughed at that, and Allison breathed more
freely now the tenseness was gone out of her voice. His hands went out
and grasped hers.

"At least I can do this," he pleaded, and Jane lifted her eyes, now
serious again, and smiled tenderly, letting her hands stay in his
passively.

"Listen, Allison--my father!"

"I know, Jane, dear--I heard it long ago. Your father was a forger!
What do you suppose I care? He probably had some overpowering
temptation and yielded, never dreaming but he would be able to make it
right. You can't make me believe that any parent of _yours_ was
actually bad! And besides, if he was, it wouldn't be _you_----"

"Allison! Listen!" broke in Jane gravely, stopping the torrent of
words with w