"Oh, you mustn't say that to me!" said Aurora Lane. "But you would want me to be honest, wouldn't you? You wouldn't want me to lie? Somehow, I've never learned to lie very much."
"No," said he simply; "no, I reckon not. You never have."
"No matter what——"
"No matter what."
"Then tell me, how could I say I loved you now? For twenty years—all my life—I have put that thought away from me. I'm old and cold now. My heart's ashes, that part, can't you understand? And you're a man."
"Yes," he nodded, "I'm a man. That's so, Aurora. But now you're just troubled. You've not had time to think. I've held my secret, too. I've never spoken out to you before. I tell you, you're too good a woman to be lost—that isn't right."
"You pity me!"
"Maybe. But I want to marry you, Aurora."
"What could I do—what could be done—where would you have any pay in that?"
"Don't trouble about the pay. How much have the past twenty years paid you?"