"I could—I have—I'm doing it!"

"You are doing something else, Miss Gay."

"W-what?"

"Making it very, very hard for me to go."

"But you can't go! You mustn't! Do you think I'd let you go—now? Not if the Austins lived next door! I mean it, Mr. Seabury. I—I simply must make amends—all I can——"

"Amends? You have."

"I? How?"

"By being here with me."

"Th-that is—is very sweet of you, Mr. Seabury, but I—but they—but you—Oh! I don't know what I'm trying to say, except that I like you—they will like you—and everybody knows Lily Seabury. Please, please forgive——"