s the soul-stirring melody was full born
within her, as a world is called into the firmament by one spoken word
of God. And as she played, Theodore moved silently toward her, for the
fiddle was flashing out the fervor of the kisses she had given him.

He was close at her feet before he spoke, and simultaneously the white
lids opened in one blue, blue glance.

"Jinnie!" breathed Theodore, getting up and holding out his arms.
"Come to me! Come to me, my love! I can't live another moment without
you."

The bow and fiddle remained unnoticed for the next half hour, while
the two, the new woman and the new man, were but conscious of one
another, nothing else.

At length Theodore spoke.

"Jinnie, look up and say, 'Theodore, I love you'."

It was hard at first, because her mind had never reached the point of
speaking aloud her passionate love for him, but Theodore heard the
halting words, and droned them over to himself, as a music lover
delights in his favorite strains.

"And you love me well enough to marry me some day?" he murmured.

Marry him! This, too, was a new thought. Jinnie's heart fluttered like
a bird in her breast. To be with him always? To have him for her own?
Of course, he was hers, and she was his! Then into her mind came the
thought of Lafe, Peggy, and Bobbie, and the arms around him relaxed.

"I love you better'n anybody in the world," she told him,
pathetically, "but I can't ever leave the cobbler.... They need me
there."

"They can't keep you," he cried passionately. "I want you myself."

His vehemence subdued her utterly. She glanced into his face. In his
flashing eyes, Jinnie read a power inimitable and unsurpassed.

"I couldn't ever leave 'em," she repeated, quivering, "but couldn't
they live----"

"We'd take the little blind boy," promised Theodore.

Jinnie remained pensive. To bring the shine in her eyes once more, he
said:

"Wouldn't you like Bobbie to live with us?"

"Yes, of course; but I couldn't leave Lafe and Peg in Paradise Road."

Theodore surrounded the entreating, uplifted face with two strong
hands.

"I know that. We'll take care of them all----"

Still Jinnie held back her full surrender.

"Can I take Happy Pete, too? And the cats? There's an awful lot of
'em.... Milly Ann does have so many kitties," she ended naively.

Theodore laughed delightedly.

"Dearest little heart! Of course we'll take them all, every one you
love!"

"Will you tell Lafe about--about us