e till I was afraid the policeman would move me on. By
the Lord," he suddenly cried, "you're pale. You--you, Hilma, do you feel
well?"

"Yes--I am well," she faltered.

"No, you're not," he declared. "I know better. You are coming back to
Quien Sabe with me. This place don't agree with you. Hilma, what's
all the matter? Why haven't you let me see you all this time? Do you
know--how things are with me? Your mother told you, didn't she? Do you
know how sorry I am? Do you know that I see now that I made the mistake
of my life there, that time, under the Long Trestle? I found it out the
night after you went away. I sat all night on a stone out on the ranch
somewhere and I don't know exactly what happened, but I've been a
different man since then. I see things all different now. Why, I've only
begun to live since then. I know what love means now, and instead of
being ashamed of it, I'm proud of it. If I never was to see you again I
would be glad I'd lived through that night, just the same. I just woke
up that night. I'd been absolutely and completely selfish up to the
moment I realised I really loved you, and now, whether you'll let me
marry you or not, I mean to live--I don't know, in a different way. I've
GOT to live different. I--well--oh, I can't make you understand, but
just loving you has changed my life all around. It's made it easier
to do the straight, clean thing. I want to do it, it's fun doing it.
Remember, once I said I was proud of being a hard man, a driver, of
being glad that people hated me and were afraid of me? Well, since I've
loved you I'm ashamed of it all. I don't want to be hard any more, and
nobody is going to hate me if I can help it. I'm happy and I want other
people so. I love you," he suddenly exclaimed; "I love you, and if you
will forgive me, and if you will come down to such a beast as I am,
I want to be to you the best a man can be to a woman, Hilma. Do you
understand, little girl? I want to be your husband."

Hilma looked at the goldfishes through her tears.

"Have you got anything to say to me, Hilma?" he asked, after a while.

"I don't know what you want me to say," she murmured.

"Yes, you do," he insisted. "I've followed you 'way up here to hear it.
I've waited around in these beastly, draughty picnic grounds for over a
week to hear it. You know what I want to hear, Hilma."

"Well--I forgive you," she hazarded.

"That will do for a starter," he answered. "But that's not IT."

"