"There isn't any forgiveness in love, Molly," he answered.
"Then—oh, then if I go on my knees will you love me?"
He smiled, and even his smile, she saw, had lost its boyish brightness and grown sadder.
"I'd like to see you on your knees, if I might pick you up," he said, "but, Molly, I can't. You've everything to lose and I've nothing on God's earth to give you except myself."
"But if that's all I want?"
"It isn't, darling. You may think so, but it isn't and you'd find it out. You see all this time since I've lost you, I've been learning to give you up. It's a poor love that isn't big enough to give up when the chance comes to it."
"If—if you give me up, I'll let everything go," she said passionately.
"I'll not take a penny of that money. I'll stay at Old Church and live
with Betsey Bottom and raise chickens. If you give me up I'll die,
Abel," she finished with a sob.
At the sound of her sob, he laughed softly, and his laugh, unlike his smile, was a laugh of happiness.
"If you go to live with Betsey Bottom I'll come and get you," he answered, "but Molly, Molly, how you've tortured me. You deserve a worse punishment than raising chickens."
"That will be happiness."