“Why not try another, then?”
“Because I don’t want no other, Mr. Levinger, sir,” he answered, suddenly taking fire. The wine had done its work with him, and moreover this was the one subject that had the power to break through the cold cunning which was a characteristic of his nature. “I want this girl or none, and I mean to have her if I wait half a lifetime for her.”
“You are in earnest, at any rate, which is a good augury for your success. And who may the lady be?”
“Who may she be? Why, I thought you knew! There’s only one about here that she could be. Joan Haste, of course.”
“Joan Haste! Ah! Yes, she is a handsome and attractive girl.”
“Handsome and attractive? Eh! she is all that. To me she is what the sun is to the corn and the water to the fish. I can’t live without her. Look here: I have watched her for years, ever since she was a child. I have summered her and wintered her, as the saying is, thinking that I wouldn’t make no mistake about her, whatever I might feel, nor give myself away in a hurry, seeing that I wanted to keep what I earn for myself, and not to spend it on others just because a pretty face chanced to take my fancy.”
“Perhaps you have been a little too careful under the circumstances, Mr. Rock.”
“Maybe I have: anyway, it has come home to me now. A month or so back I spoke out, because I couldn’t keep myself in no longer.”
“To Joan Haste?”
“Yes, to Joan Haste. Her aunt knew about it before, but she didn’t seem able to help me much.”