"You're all there is to me," he told Jane the following morning with a desperation in his eyes and a seriousness in his voice that made her search his face with alarm. "I fought against my love for you but it wasn't any use. You made me love you. You'll make me keep lovin' you, won't you, Jane?"
"I hope so! You don't know how much I hope so!" she assured him as her arms clasped his neck closely. "It frightens me, having this responsibility. It's the greatest I've ever had and I'm weak, Tom, a weak woman!"
"No, strong!" he declared and stopped her further protest with kisses.
Dad Hepburn, of course, could not stay on under the circumstances.
"There's an advantage of having a reptile in sight if you've got to have one in the country," Beck told Jane as they discussed the matter, "but he won't stay. He's got an excuse to back out gracefully now and we haven't any excuse to keep him on."
"And will you be my foreman?" she asked.
"If you'll trust me that far," he replied with the laugh in his eyes again.
Hepburn departed that day, telling Jane that he would like to stay but that he did not feel like risking his life for the sake of a job, to which she made no reply other than writing his check. This nettled him; he did not meet her gaze because, though they both had lied, her guilt was white while his was smirched with treachery.
His farewell to Beck was not open but his successor read in it an ominous quality.
"I wish you luck on your job, Beck," he said as he mounted, ready to ride away. "Lots of luck."