"Aw, hell!" he muttered under his breath.
Mary did not hear him. She was too much preoccupied with her sobs. She began searching blindly for a handkerchief, and was not aware of what she did when she accepted Bill's, which he hastily offered.
"Don't cry," he advised.
He might as well have advised the sky not to rain.
"Oh, come, Miss Norcross; please don't cry."
"I—I will cry!"
"Well, then, don't resign," he said.
"I will resign!"
"Let's be reasonable. Don't let's lose our tempers."
Mary swallowed a sob and shouted into the handkerchief: