o speak out, as
I have done, telling you and your wife of my love for Vona."

"I don't see how you dare to speak of it, seeing what the circumstances
are," declared the father; there was a murmur of corroboration from the
mother.

"It's a cheeky insult to all concerned," shouted Britt.

"No, it's my best attempt to be honest and open and a man," insisted
Vaniman. "I have left no chance for gossip to bring tales to you, Mr.
Harnden."

But Mr. Harnden sliced the air with a hand that sought to sever further
conference. "Absolutely impossible, young man."

"Vona's prospects must not be ruined by anybody's selfishness," stated
Mrs. Harnden.

In his eagerness, encouraged by this parental backing, Mr. Britt did
not employ a happy metaphor. "It has been my rule, in the case of bitter
medicine, to take it quick and have the agony over with." He put all the
appeal he could muster into his gaze at Vona. "That's why I have sprung
the thing this evening, on the spur of the moment. I ain't either young
or handsome, Vona. I know my shortcomings. But I've got everything to
make you happy; all you've got to do is turn around and take me as your
husband and make me and your folks happy, too."

Mr. Harnden's optimism bobbed up with its usual serenity. "We're making
a whole lot out of a little, come to think it over!" He turned to Vona,
feeling that he was fortified against any appeal he might find in her
eyes.

In the silence that she had imposed on herself while her champion was
battling she had been gathering courage, piling up the ammunition of
resolution. Love lighted her eyes and flung out its signal banners of
challenge on her cheeks.

"Why, our girl has never said that she is in love with anybody," prated
the father.

"I'll say it now, when there's a good reason for saying it," cried the
girl, her tones thrilling the listeners. "I'll say it in my own way to
the one who is entitled to know, and you may listen, father and mother!"

She went to Frank, stretching her hands to him, and he took them in
his grasp. "I understand! I can wait," she told him. "And when the time
comes and you call to me, I'll say, as Ruth said, 'Entreat me not to
leave thee, or to return from following after thee; for whither thou
goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge; thy people shall
be my people, and thy God my God.'" Impulsively, heeding only him, she
threw her arms around his neck and kissed him. Then she ran from the
room.