en overheard, but
instantly realized the mistake and turned back, noticing how she was
trembling.

"Tell me," I questioned earnestly, "what caused you to interfere between
me and the officer?"

"What! Oh, I hardly know," a touch of hysteria in the nervous
exclamation. "It was just a natural ending to all the rest, I suppose.
I was a criminal in heart, a fugitive; I hated the law, and was afraid of
the police. I merely did what occurred to me first, without thought,
volition, purpose. I was compelled to choose instantly between his mercy
and yours; the--the difference seemed small enough then, but--but I
realized you were frightened also, and--and so I preferred to trust you.
That was all; it was my fate, and--and, well I did n't care much how it
ended."

"But you endeavored to escape from me; you sought to compel my leaving
you?"

She lifted her face again, flushing, saddened, slightly indignant, the
brown eyes widening.

"Perhaps the soul was not all dead," she returned gravely. "Perhaps
womanhood was not all gone. I did not know you; I was in terror."

"And now?"

Our eyes met, her own cleared of tears, gazing frankly at me.

"I am not afraid; I believe I have found a man, and a friend."

I was conscious of a sudden wild throb of the heart, a swift rush of
blood through my veins.

"I might have doubted that myself a while ago," I acknowledged almost
bitterly, "but now I am going to make good. Lord! how a fellow can run
to seed when he lets himself go. Don't you know you are helping me, as
much as I am you? You didn't find much out there--only a drunken
discharged soldier, an ex-hobo, with a laborer's job. I 've wasted my
chance in life, and been an infernal fool. I can see that plain enough,
and despise myself for it. I knew it before you came--the difference was
then I did n't care, while now I do. You have made me care. Yes, you
have, girl," as she glanced up again, plainly startled by this unexpected
avowal. "You care, and because I know you do, things are different. I
mean it; this is no word play. I tell you when a man has been steadily
dropping, in his own estimation, as well as the social scale; when he has
just about lost his pride, his self-respect, his realization of right and
wrong; when he sees nothing ahead worth fighting for; when he seeks
happiness in drink, and makes companions out of crooks and hobos, that is
when it amounts to something to have a real woman like you come