"Very much."
Peter forgot his crutches, and one of them fell with a rattle at Shirley's feet. She would have bent to pick it up, but he prevented her, and laboriously reached for it himself.
"I 'm not going," said Peter, deliberately, "to let you wait on me, when all in life I want is the chance to serve you--all my life."
"It would be a very poor partnership," said Shirley, in a half-whisper, after a minute--and Peter's heart stopped beating--"if the serving were all on one side"--and Peter's heart went thumping on again, though not in proper rhythm.
"Partnership! Is it a partnership, Shirley?"
She nodded. But she moved three steps out of reach. Peter made a hasty movement, and both crutches slipped down to the floor with a crash, and slid away off the edge of the porch to the ground. Peter glared after them. Then he looked at Shirley, standing there, rose-cheeked, her tear-wet eyes now full of laughter.
"Oh, please get them for me, dear!" he pleaded. "Or--no--never mind the crutches! Just--come here!"
*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ROUND THE CORNER IN GAY STREET ***