"That is it—and they are nearly here. Now you know at least one of the reasons why I can't go with you to-night."
"I'll be shot if I do!" stormed the generous one. "I promised the Missus I'd bring you."
"You must make my excuses to her; and to Corona you may say that I am once more carrying a gun. She will understand."
"Which means, I take it, that you've been telling Corry more than you've told the rest of us. That brings on more talk, John. I haven't said a word before, have I?"
"No."
"Well, I'm going to say it now: I've got only just one daughter in the wide, wide world, John."
Smith stood up and put his hands behind him, facing the older man squarely.
"Colonel, I'd give ten years of my life, this minute, if I might go with you to Hillcrest this evening and tell Corona what I have been wanting to tell her ever since I have come to know what her love might make of me. The fact that I can't do it is the bitterest thing I have ever had to face, or can ever be made to face."
Colonel Baldwin fell back into his swing-chair and thrust his hands into his pockets.
"It beats the Dutch how things tangle themselves up for us poor mortals every little so-while," he commented, after a frowning pause. And then: "You haven't said anything like that to Corry, have you?"