"I hope you won't lose money, Will."
"No;—not ultimately, that is. I shall get the place in good condition, and I shall have paid myself when he goes, in that way, if in no other. Besides, what's a little money? I owe it to them for robbing her of her inheritance."
"You do not rob her, Will."
"It is hard upon her, though."
"Does she feel it hard?"
"Whatever may be her feelings on such a matter, she is a woman much too proud to show them."
"I wish I knew whether you liked her or not."
"I do like her,—I love her better than any one in the world; better even than you, Mary; for I have asked her to be my wife."
"Oh, Will!"
"And she has refused me. Now you know the whole of it,—the whole history of what I have done while I have been away." And he stood up before her, with his thumbs thrust into the arm-holes of his waistcoat, with something serious and almost solemn in his gait, in spite of a smile which played about his mouth.