world says I am a fool, a dolt, almost a criminal--but
no one believes I am a man. Peggy, will you feel better toward me if I
tell you that I am going to begin life all over again? It will be a new
Monty Brewster that starts out again in a few days, or, if you will, it
shall be the old one--the Monty you once knew."

"The old Monty?" she murmured softly, dreamily. "It would be good to
see him--so much better than to see the Monty of the last year."

"And, in spite of all I have done, Peggy, you will stand by me? You
won't desert me like the rest? You'll be the same Peggy of the other
days?" he cried, his calmness breaking down.

"How can you ask? Why should you doubt me?"

For a moment they stood silent, each looking into the heart of the
other, each seeing the beginning of a new day.

"Child," his voice trembled dangerously, "I--I wonder if you care
enough for me to--to--" but he could only look the question.

"To start all over again with you?" she whispered.

"Yes--to trust yourself to the prodigal who has returned. Without you,
child, all the rest would be as the husks. Peggy, I want you--you! You
DO love me--I can see it in your eyes, I can feel it in your presence."

"How long you have been in realizing it," she said pensively as she
stretched out her arms to him. For many minutes he held her close,
finding a beautiful peace in the world again.

"How long have you really cared?" he asked in a whisper.

"Always, Monty; all my life."

"And I, too, child, all my life. I know it now; I've known it for
months. Oh, what a fool I was to have wasted all this love of yours and
all this love of mine. But I'll not be a profligate in love, Peggy.
I'll not squander an atom of it, dear, not as long as I live."

"And we will build a greater love, Monty, as we build the new life
together. We never can be poor while we have love as a treasure."

"You won't mind being poor with me?" he asked.

"I can't be poor with you," she said simply.

"And I might have let all this escape me," he cried fervently. "Listen,
Peggy--we will start together, you as my wife and my fortune. You shall
be all that is left to me of the past. Will you marry me the day after
to-morrow? Don't say no, dearest. I want to begin on that day. At seven
in the morning, dear? Don't you see how good the start will be?"

And he pleaded so ardently and so earnestly that he won his point even
though it grew out of a whim that she could not then understa