"I tell you," I insisted, with a sudden hideous dismay, "there's nothing to worry about. Forget it."
"Oh, I'm not asking for pity. I've more happiness now than is right. Maybe that's why I'm afraid. But, Con, they killed my father and they killed my mother and they killed Jimmy, and if they take you too, it'll be more than I can stand."
The savage woe of an old Earthly poet lanced through my brain:
The time is out of joint
O cursèd spite,
That ever I was born
To set it right!
And then, for just a moment, there came the notion of yielding. You love the girl, Conru. You love her so much it's a pain in you. Well, take her! Marry her!
No. I was not excessively tender of heart or conscience, but neither was I that kind of scoundrel.
I kissed her words away. Afterward, alone in the darkness of my room, I realized that Conrad Haugen had no good reason to hang back. It was true, all she said was true, and no other couple was waiting for an uncertain future.