that you would not fall in
love with me."

"I don't reckon that I said that," he returned. "I told you that I
wasn't goin' to get fresh. I reckon I ain't fresh now. But I expect I
couldn't help lovin' you--I've done that since the first day."

She could not stop the blushes--they would come. And so would that
thrilling, breathless exultation. No man had ever talked to her like
this; no man had ever made her feel quite as she felt at this moment.
She turned a crimson face to him.

"But you hadn't any right to love me," she declared, feeling sure that
she had been unable to make him understand that she meant to rebuke
him. Evidently he did not understand that she meant to do that, for he
unclasped his hand from his knee and came closer to her, standing at
the edge of the rock, one hand resting upon it.

"Of course I didn't have any right," he said gravely, "but I loved you
just the same. There's been some things in my life that I couldn't
help doin'. Lovin' you is one. I expect that you'll think I'm pretty
fresh, but I've been thinkin' a whole lot about you an' I've got to
tell you. You ain't like the women I've been used to. An' I reckon I
ain't just the kind of man you've been acquainted with all your life.
You've been used to seein' men who was all slicked up an' clever. I
expect them kind of men appeal to any woman. I ain't claimin' to be
none of them clever kind, but I've been around quite a little an' I
ain't never done anything that I'm ashamed of. I can't offer you a
heap, but if you----"

She had looked up quickly, her cheeks burning.

"Please don't," she pleaded, rising and placing a hand on his arm,
gripping it tightly. "I have known for a long time, but I--I wanted to
be sure." He could not suspect that she had only just now begun to
realize that she was in danger of yielding to him and that the
knowledge frightened her.

"You wanted to be sure?" he questioned, his face clouding. "What is it
that you wanted to be sure of?"

"Why," she returned, laughing to hide her embarrassment, "I wanted to
be sure that you loved me!"

"Well, you c'n be sure now," he said.

"I believe I can," she laughed. "And," she continued, finding it
difficult to pretend seriousness, "knowing what I do will make writing
so much easier."

His face clouded again. "I don't see what your writin' has got to do
with it," he said.

"You don't?" she demanded, her eyes widening with pretended surprise.
"Why, d