milk, and Hannah's white face.
Perhaps it was well that he could not see how white Hannah's face was at
that moment when a sudden trembling made her set down the heavy bucket.
At first neither spoke. The recollection of all the joy of that walk
together in the night came upon them both. And a great sense of loss
made the night seem supernaturally dark to Ralph. Nor was it any lighter
in the hopeless heart of the bound girl. The presence of Ralph did not
now, as before, make the darkness of her life light.

"Hannah--" said Ralph presently, and stopped. For he could not finish
the sentence. With a rush there came upon him a consciousness of the
suspicions that filled Hannah's mind. And with it there came a feeling
of guilt. He saw himself from her stand-point, and felt a remorse almost
as keen as it could have been had he been a criminal. And this sudden
and morbid sense of his guilt as it appeared to Hannah paralyzed him.
But when Hannah lifted her bucket with her hand, and the world with her
heavy heart, and essayed to pass him, Ralph rallied and said:

"_You_ don't believe all these lies that are told about me."

"I don't believe anything, Mr. Hartsook; that is, I don't want to
believe anything against you. And I wouldn't mind anything they say if
it wasn't for two things"--here she stammered and looked down.

"If it wasn't for what?" said Ralph with a spice of indignant denial in
his voice.

Hannah hesitated, but Ralph pressed the question with eagerness.

"I saw you cross that blue-grass pasture the night--the night that you
walked home with me." She would have said the night of the robbery, but
her heart smote her, and she adopted the more kindly form of the
sentence.

Ralph would have explained, but how?

"I did cross the pasture," he began, "but--"

Just here it occurred to Ralph that there was no reason for his night
excursion across the pasture. Hannah again took up her bucket, but he
said:

"Tell me what else you have against me."

"I haven't anything against you. Only I am poor and friendless, and you
oughtn't to make my life any heavier. They say that you have paid
attention to a great many girls. I don't know why you should want to
trifle with me."

Ralph answered her this time. He spoke low. He spoke as though he were
speaking to God. "If any man says that I ever trifled with any woman, he
lies. I have never loved but one, and you know who that is. And God
knows."

"I don't know what to say