He stood looking at her, then stepped forward boldly and took her hand.
“Lola,” and as he spoke there was a tone of passion in his voice that frightened her, “I love you!”
She looked him in the face and answered gently, “I am going to marry John Dorris.”
“Not—not because of this—this damned story you heard about me?”
“No,” replied Lola quietly. “Because I love him.”
He stepped back, dropping her hand, and for the first time since she had known him a look of real sadness came into his face.
“I—I guess there’s nothing for me to do but go. I have usually had most everything I wanted in this world, but now if I’m going to lose you I’m getting the worst of things, after all.”
“I am sorry,” began Lola, but he shook his head impatiently and crossed to the door. “I haven’t any use for your sympathy. You say you are going to marry John Dorris, but you haven’t done it yet. You say that you are not going to see me again. I don’t believe that, Lola. You don’t love me. I know, but you don’t love him either. You don’t know what love is, and when you learn it won’t be from John Dorris.”
He closed the door behind him, and she heard him running down the stairs as she stood there with a strange dread in her heart.