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Page 8
"It's what you say, and the way you say it," the girl
explained. She seemed to be continuing an argument. "It
makes it so very difficult for us to play together."
The young man clasped the wheel as though the force he were
holding in check were much greater than sixty horse-power.
"You are not married yet, are you?" he demanded.
The girl moved her head.
"And when you are married, there will probably be an altar
from which you will turn to walk back up the aisle?"
"Well?" said the girl.
"Well," he answered explosively, "until you turn away from that
altar, I do not recognize the right of any man to keep me
quiet, or your right either. Why should I be held by your
engagement? I was not consulted about it. I did not give my
consent, did I? I tell you, you are the only woman in the
world I will ever marry, and if you think I am going to keep
silent and watch some one else carry you off without making a
fight for you, you don't know me."
"If you go on," said the girl, "it will mean that I shall not
see you again."
"Then I will write letters to you."
"I will not read them," said the girl. The young man laughed
defiantly.
"Oh, yes, you will read them!" He pounded his gauntleted fist
on the rim of the wheel. "You mayn't answer them, but if I
can write the way I feel, I will bet you'll read them."
His voice changed suddenly, and he began to plead. It was as
though she were some masculine giant bullying a small boy.
"You are not fair to me," he protested. "I do not ask you to
be kind, I ask you to be fair. I am fighting for what means
more to me than anything in this world, and you won't even
listen. Why should I recognize any other men! All I
recognize is that _I_ am the man who loves you, that `I am the
man at your feet.' That is all I know, that I love you."
The girl moved as though with the cold, and turned her head
from him.
"I love you," repeated the young man.
The girl breathed like one who has been swimming under water,
but, when she spoke, her voice was calm and contained.
"Please!" she begged, "don't you see how unfair it is. I can't
go away; I HAVE to listen."
The young man pulled himself upright, and pressed his lips
together.
"I beg your pardon," he whispered.
There was for some time an unhappy silence, and then Winthrop
added bitterly: "Methinks the punishment exceeds the
offence."
"Do you think you make it easy for ME?" returned the girl.
She considered it most ungenerous of him to sit staring into
the moonlight, looking so miserable that it made her heart
ache to comfort him, and so extremely handsome that to do so
was quite impossible. She would have liked to reach out her
hand and lay it on his arm, and tell him she was sorry, but
she could not. He should not have looked so unnecessarily
handsome.
Sam came running toward them with five grizzly bears, who
balanced themselves apparently with some slight effort upon
their hind legs. The grizzly bears were properly presented
as: "Tommy Todd, of my class, and some more like him. And,"
continued Sam, "I am going to quit you two and go with them.
Tom's car broke down, but Fred fixed it, and both our cars can
travel together. Sort of convoy," he explained.
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