"'Here's your brooch, Joe,' I said. 'I didn't know you gave it to me just to make me marry you. I don't love you, Joe, and I won't marry a man I don't love. You mustn't ask me again. You get somebody else.'
"Big Joe was just like a baby. His face turned white.
"'You're in love with Bremner,' he said, catching me by the wrist. I drew myself away.
"'I'm not,' I said. 'I like him better than I like any other man,—you included,—but I don't love him any more than he loves me.'"
Rita looked up at me and her eyes filled with tears.
"'Ain't Bremner in love with you?' Joe asked.
"'No!' I said.
"Then Joe got terribly mad.
"'By God in Heaven!' he cried, 'I'll kill that son-of-a-gun, if I hang for it!'
"He meant you, George. He went off into the wood, leaving me standing like a silly.