His eyes burned into hers:
"And you, too, have known this for weeks?"
"Yassah. Mister Tom ax me not ter tell ye——"
Norton staggered to a seat and sank with a groan of despair, repeating over and over again in low gasps the exclamation that was a sob and a prayer:
"Great God!—Great God!"
Minerva drew near with tender sympathy. Her voice was full of simple, earnest pleading:
"De Lordy, major, what's de use? Young folks is young folks, an' love's love. What ye want ter break 'em up fer—dey's so happy! Yer know, sah, ye can't mend er butterfly's wing er put er egg back in de shell. Miss Helen's young, beautiful, sweet and good—won't ye let me plead fer 'em, sah?"
With a groan of anguish Norton sprang to his feet:
"Silence—silence!"
"Yassah!"