“You will not!” she hissed back, “because I won’t answer you a word! And I hope old George ruins your mill!”
“That’s all right,” he said, shaking his bloody head, “but, Judas, you did smash me with that stone! After that, I guess, I’ve got something coming to me!” And he reached down and kissed her lips.
“You–stop!” she panted. “Oh, I–I’ll kill you for that!” But Wiley only laughed recklessly.
“All right!” he said, “what’s the difference–I’d die happy! I almost wish you’d hit me again.”
“Well, I will!” she threatened, but when he released her she drew back and hung her head. “That isn’t fair,” she said, “you know I can’t protect myself, and─”
“Well, all right,” he agreed, “we’ll call it square then. But–I want to tell you something, Virginia.”
“Are you going to stand here,” she burst out sharply, “and let him blow up your mill?”
“Yes, I am,” he answered. “I don’t care what happens to me if you and I can be friends. I 199love you, Virginia, you know it as well as I do, and that’s all I want in the world. Let’s just be friends, the way we used to be when we were playing around town together. I’ve been trying to see you for months–it’s seemed like forty years–and Virginia, you’ve got to listen to me!”
He paused and drew nearer, and she stood waiting passively, as if daring him to touch her again; but he stooped and peered into her face. The night was not dark and in the ghostly moonlight he could see the cold anger in her eyes.
“Yes, I know,” he said, “you hate me like poison–but Virginia, this is going too far. It’s all right to hate me, if that’s the way you’re built, but you ought to give me a chance. It looks very much as if you’d come up here to-night to do some damage to my mine; but I’ll let that pass and say nothing about it if you’ll only give me a chance. Let me tell you how I feel and then, some other time─”