t you again. If grandma--or any of the others found out
they would never forgive me--they are so stern and straight. I've gone
too far already, and besides---"

"Besides what?"

"You make me feel wicked and underhand."

"Do you mean that you can walk off like this and never see me again?"

Tears came to her eyes. "You oughtn't to put it like that!"

"But that's just what it means. Now, darling, do you think you can do
it?"

"I won't think--but I'll have to do it."

His nervous irritability became suddenly violent, and the muscles of his
face contracted as if from a spasm of physical pain.

"Confound it all! Why shouldn't I marry you, Blossom?" he burst out.
"You're the most beautiful woman I've ever seen and you look every inch
a lady. If it wasn't for my mother I'd pick you up to-day and carry you
off to Washington."

"Your mother would never give in. There's no use talking about it."

"It isn't her giving in, but her health. You see, she has heart disease,
and any sudden shock brings on one of these terrible attacks that may
kill her. She bears everything like an angel--I never heard a complaint
from her in my life--not even when she was suffering tortures--but the
doctors say now that another failure of her heart would be fatal."

"I know," she admitted softly, "they said that twenty years ago, didn't
they?"

"Well, she's been on her back almost all the time during those twenty
years. It's wonderful what she's borne--her angelic patience. And, of
course her hopes all hang on me now. She's got nobody else."

"But I thought Miss Kesiah was so devoted to her."

"Oh, she is--she is, but Aunt Kesiah has never really understood her.
Just to look at them, you can tell how different they are. That's how it
is Blossom--I'm tied, you see--tied hand and foot."

"Yes, I see," she rejoined. "Your uncle was tied, too. I've heard that
he used to say--tied with a silk string, he called it."

"You wouldn't have me murder my mother, would you?" he demanded
irritably, kicking at the twisted root of a willow.

"Good-bye, Mr. Jonathan," she responded quietly, and started toward the
house.

"Wait a minute,--oh, Blossom, come back!" he entreated--but without
pausing she ran quickly up the crooked path under the netting of
shadows.

"So that's the end," said Gay angrily. "By Jove, I'm well out of it,"
and went home to dinner. "I won't see her again," he thought as he
entered the house, and the next instant, when he a