"Sometimes it's that way," said Mary Warren, "yes. Then that's our promise!"
"Yes, it's a promise, so fer as I'm concerned," said Sim Gage.
"Then there isn't much left," said she after a time, her throat fluttering. She patted his great hand bravely as it lay upon the blankets, afraid to touch her own. "The rest will be—I think the rest will be easier than this."
"A heap easier," said he. "I dreaded this more'n I would to be shot. I wanted to do the right thing, but I didn't know what was right. Won't you say you knowed I wanted to do right all the time, and that I just didn't know? Can't you see that I'm sorry I made you marry me, because it wasn't no way right? Can't you see it's only just to get you some sort of a home?"
"I said yes, Sim Gage," said Mary Warren.
"Yes?" A certain exultation was in his voice. "To me? All my life everything's been no to me!"
She laid her hand on his, pity rising in her own heart. "I'll take care of you," said she.
"I was scared from the first of any woman coming out here," said Sim Gage truthfully. "But whatever you say goes. But our gettin' married! When?"
"The sooner the better."
They both nodded assent to this, neither seeing the other, for he dared not look her way now.