"Help me to erase the past.
"I love you with my whole soul, dear. Everything in me loves you. My life is worth nothing unless you share it.
"Will you?
"Ah, you need not fear, Marcia. Sylvia has told me everything. Beloved, there is not and never has been a barrier to our marriage. We have misunderstood one another. Let us do so no longer.
"I am a free man—acquitted.
"I also am free of any claim that would hinder our wedding. Come to me and let us begin life afresh."
She came then, swiftly.
As he held her in his arms, the last shadow that separated them melted away.
Under the glow of the noonday sun, they walked back toward the Homestead, hand in hand.