“That is the time when one needs to summon every ounce of self-control he possesses. It is when the other man is seeking to land a knock-out blow that one needs to keep his head the coolest, for unless he does he can’t make his best calculations.”
“Oh, Mr. McGowan! You’ll keep that way in this trouble, and not let any of them get in that kind of blow?”
“Yes, if you will only help me.”
“I help you? But I can’t!”
“No one else can.”
“Oh!” cried the girl, beginning to take in the meaning of his words.
“Elizabeth–––”
“Don’t say it, please!” Her fingers went to her lips in a hurt gesture. “You may spoil everything.”
“I must speak. I love you! I have loved you from the first day beneath that old elm-tree on the Captain’s place.”
“Oh!”––she sprang to her feet and faced him,––“now, you have made it impossible for 205 me to help you, where before I might have done something!”