At last he awoke.

"Mollie!--girlie!"

An hour had passed since he left the doctor's office to reel and
stagger drunkenly through the slush and the sleet, and the icy blasts,
which bit cruelly into his very vitals.

Now he and Mollie were alone in the tiny library. Babcock had been
warmed, washed, fed. Seemingly without volition on his part, he was
before the hard-coal blaze, his feet on the fender, the light
carefully shaded from his eyes. Once upon a time--

But Steve Babcock, master mechanic, had not lost his nerve--once upon
a time.

"Steve"--the voice was as soft as the wide brown eyes, as the dainty
oval chin--"Steve, tell me what it is."

The man's hand, palm outward, dropped wearily, eloquently. That was
all.

"But tell me," the girl's chair came closer, so that she might have
touched him, "you went to see the doctor?"

"Yes."

"And he--?"

Again the silent, hopeless gesture, more fear-inspiring than words.

"Don't keep me in suspense, please." A small hand was on the man's
knee, now, frankly unashamed. "Tell me what he said."

For an instant there was silence, then Babcock shrugged awkwardly, in
an effort at nonchalance.

"He said I was--was--" in spite of himself, the speaker paused to
moisten his lips--"a dead man."

"Steve!"

Not a word this time; not even a shrug.

"Steve, you--you're not--not joking with me?"

Lower and lower, still in silence, dropped the man's chin.

"Steve," in a steadier voice, "please answer me. You're not joking?"

"Joking!" At last the query had pierced the fear-dulled brain.
"Joking! God, no! It's real, real, deadly real, that's what ... Oh,
Mollie--!" Instinctively, as a child, the man's head had gone to the
girl's lap. Though never before had they spoken of love or of
marriage, neither noted the incongruity now. "It's all over. We'll
never be married, never again get out into the country together, never
even see the green grass next Spring--at least I won't--never.... Oh,
Mollie, Mollie!" The man's back rose and fell spasmodically. His voice
broke. "Mollie, make me forget; I can't bear to think of it. Can't!
Can't!"

Not a muscle of the girl's body stirred; she made no sound. No one in
advance would have believed it possible, but it was true. Five minutes
passed. The man became quiet.

"Steve," the voice was very even, "what else did the doctor say?"

"Eh?" It was the doddering query of an old man.

The girl repeated the question, slowly, with infi