"They took me away. They said I couldn't have her. They said I was only a little girl. Where was my father? Didn't I have any brothers?
"And so they said—It was the head doctor now—He said I couldn't have her, I wasn't of age, I couldn't make a home for her.
"Then they—He said if I was married and had a husband and a home I could have her. That was the only way.
"Can that be so, Jimmie? Can that be so? Is that the only way I can take her out of that place and have her? Have I got to be married to have her with me? Have I got to be married?"
"Why, no," said Jimmie, rising sharply and striding across the room. "Why no, certainly, of—of—course not—of course not!"
Then he turned to meet the brilliant, half hysterical, pleading eyes of the girl fixed full upon him.
"Of course not. Of course—" he murmured, sitting down again.