Then with a catch in her voice:

“Oh, David—let me help you.”

He shook his head in a slow, considering manner.

“No—there would be only one way—and that’s not fair.”

“What isn’t fair, David?”

“You—to marry—me,” he said, still in that slow, considering way. “You know, Elizabeth, I can’t think very well. My head is all to pieces. But it’s not fair, and I can’t take your help—” He broke off frowning.

“David, it has nothing to do with that sort of thing,” said Elizabeth very seriously. “It’s only what I would do for any one.”

She was shaken to the depths, but she kept her voice low and steady.

“Yes—it has—one can’t take like that——”

“Because I’m a woman? Just because I’m a woman?”