"You might at least allow me to forget it," she retorted.
"Why should you wish to forget it? I think I shall be proud of it when I have risen far enough above it to claim you. It is no small thing to be a self-made man."
She resented the assurance of his tone.
"It is strange that you do not consider my view of it."
"Your view—what is it?"
"That I do not wish the man I love to—to speak to that Pollard girl," she gasped.
"Since you wish it, I will avoid her in future. She is nothing to me; but I can't refuse to speak to her. You are unreasonable."
She was regarding the hovering shade of Amos Burr.
"If you think me unreasonable," she returned, "we may as well—"
He reached her side by a single step and flung his arm about her. Then he looked into her face and laughed softly.