"Girl, you don't seem to
realize what this means to me. I want you--and I'm going to have you!"

"Please don't be melodramatic, Mr. Bush."

"Melodramatic! If it is melodrama for a man to show a little genuine
feeling, I'm guilty. But I was never more in earnest in my life. I
want a chance to win you. I value you above any woman I have ever met.
Most women that--"

"Most women would jump at the chance," Hazel interrupted. "Well, I'm
not most women. I don't consider myself as a marketable commodity, nor
my looks as an aid to driving a good bargain in a matrimonial way. I
simply don't care for you as you would want me to--and I'm very sure I
never would. And, seeing that you do feel that way, it's better that
we shouldn't be thrown together as we are here. That's why I'm going."

"That is to say, you'll resign because I've told you I care for you and
proposed marriage?" he remarked.

"Exactly. It's the only thing to do under the circumstances."

"Give me a chance to show you that I can make you happy," he pleaded.
"Don't leave. Stay here where I can at least see you and speak to you.
I won't annoy you. And you can't tell. After you get over this
surprise you might find yourself liking me better."

"That's just the trouble," Hazel pointed out. "If I were here you
would be bringing this subject up in spite of yourself. And that can
only cause pain. I can't stay."

"I think you had better reconsider that," he said; and a peculiar--an
ugly--light crept into his eyes, "unless you desire to lay yourself
open to being the most-talked-of young woman in this town, where you
were born, where all your friends live. Many disagreeable things might
result."

"That sounds like a threat, Mr. Bush. What do you mean?"

"I mean just what I say. I will admit that mine is, perhaps, a selfish
passion. If you insist on making me suffer, I shall do as much for
you. I believe in paying all debts in full, even with high interest.
There are two characteristics of mine which may not have come to your
attention: I never stop struggling for what I want. And I never
forgive or forget an injury or an insult."

"Well?" Hazel was beginning to see a side of Mr. Andrew Bush hitherto
unsuspected.

"Well?" he repeated. "If you drive me to it, you will find yourself
drawing the finger of gossip. Also, you will find yourself unable to
secure a position in Granville. Also, you may find yourself losing
the--er--regard of