he
said. "Of course I'm older, but there's a lot of time left yet for you
and me--a lot of living. You've had mighty little out of life, here by
yourself. Now I've stood it as long as I can. Since the whole truth
about the boy has broken out today and can't ever be covered up again,
it seemed to me I just had to tell you that you needed me to take care
of you--someone more than just yourself. Things may go harder for you
now. They've been hard enough already. You need help. Who more natural
to help you than myself, feeling as I have, as I do?"

"Oh, you _mustn't_ talk that way!" Her voice trembled. "You must go on
away. I'm not--good----"

"You're good enough for me--good as I am, surely--and I want to get into
this game with you now. You need me. That means we've got to be married.
Oh, the boy's fine, yes, but he'll be going away. You need a man--a
husband--someone you can depend on, Aurora. Isn't there anything welcome
in that thought for you? Aurora, I want to marry you--at once, right
away. I say that right now and here."

Aurora Lane looked this way and that, every way. Her gaze happened to go
down the long vista beneath the maples, to fall upon the face of the
town clock on the courthouse. The hour hand with a short jerk moved
forward and the deep note of the bell boomed out--it was one o'clock of
the night; and all was not well.

She turned as she felt the tense grasp of his great knotted hands still
upon her own.

"You say that--to me----" she managed to say at last. "Why, everybody
knows--all the town knows----" Her voice shook. "I suppose I'll have to
leave here now after what's happened. But _you'd_ have to leave if you
took up with such as me--even this late, it would ruin you. Don't you
think of your own prospects? Why, I couldn't marry you, no matter how
much I loved you."

"You don't love me at all?"

"How could I?"

"That's true," said he simply. "How could you?"

"I don't mean that," she corrected herself hastily.

"It's just what I said," he rejoined. "This seems providential to me. I
can't allow these people to murder you a dozen times a week the way they
will do now. You can't make this fight alone any more, Aurora--I can't
any longer bear to see you try it. It's all out now. It's going to be
harder for you after this."

She did not make any answer to him at all, but she heard his big voice
murmuring on.

"I reckon it's love, after all, Aurora--I don't know. I don't know much
about w