"Don't! don't!" he said.

He stepped close to her, as she leaned upon the mantelpiece, all the
hardness gone from his face. Had she known it, the battle at that moment
might have been hers; for he would have insisted no longer. He was on
the brink of abandoning the conflict. But her anguish of weeping
possessed her to the exclusion of everything else.

"Oh, Jerry, go away!" she sobbed passionately. "You're a perfect beast,
and I'm another! But I'll do it, I'll do it--for your sake, as I would
do anything in the world, though it's quite true that I'd rather
starve!"

And Jerry, rather pale, but otherwise complete master of himself, patted
her shoulder with a hasty assumption of kindly approval; and told her
that he had always known she was a brick.

II

"Heaven knows I don't aspire to be any particular ornament to society,"
said Dick Kenyon modestly. "Never have; though I've been pretty well
everything else that you can think of, from cow-puncher to millionaire.
And I can tell you there's a dashed deal more fun in being the first
than the last of those. Still, I think I could make you comfortable if
you would have me; though, if you don't want to, just say so, and I'll
shunt till further notice."

It was thus that he made his proposal to the girl of his choice; and no
one, hearing it, would have guessed that beneath his calm, even
phlegmatic, exterior, the man was in a ferment of anxiety. He spoke with
a slight nasal twang that seemed to emphasise his deliberation, and his
face was mask-like in its composure. Of beauty he had none.

His eyes were extraordinarily blue, but the lids drooped over them so
heavily that his expression was habitually drowsy, even stolid. In
build, he was short and thick-set, like a bulldog; and there seemed to
be something of a bulldog's strength in the breadth of his chest, though
there was no hint of energy about him to warrant its development.

The girl he addressed did not look at him. She sat perfectly still, with
her hands fast clasped together, and her eyes, wide and despairing,
fixed upon the fire in front of her. She was wondering desperately how
long she could possibly endure it. Yet his last words were somehow not
what she had expected from this man whose manner always seemed to hint
that at least half of creation was at his sole disposal. They expressed
a consideration on his part that she had been far from anticipating. He
waited for an interval of several secon