"There is only one man who can help you."
"No; yourself. Sidney, I hate to discuss this thing, for it has come between us and spoiled life for us both; but you have no right to depend on Mr. Thayer as you do. You aren't a child, and you can fight your own way out of this."
"What's the use now?"
"Use! Everything. Your whole manhood."
"But in the end? What does it all amount to?"
"Surely, you aren't child enough to need a bribe?" she asked in sharp scorn.
Her scorn stung him to rapid speech.
"Beatrix, ever since I turned into manhood, I have known this danger of mine, and I have tried to fight it for the sake of the woman I might love, some day. Laugh, if you will. Perhaps it is funny; but it has a certain pitiful side to it, this trying to keep one's self clean for the sake of the woman one has never yet seen. Then, last fall, I did see her. Since then, the fight has been easier; perhaps I've not lost so many battles. It all seemed more worth while. And now—"
"And now?" Her voice was almost inaudible.