“I know you'll work; the chances are you'll work too hard and do yourself up.”
The road passed a wooded point, and came to an open spot with a tiny bay. “Oh, Lanny, how lovely!” whispered the girl. “Stop for a bit.”
They drew up by the roadside, as young couples were doing along ten thousand rivers and streams of America. They sat looking over the water, strewn with shimmering bright jewels; and Gracyn put her hand on Lanny's and murmured: “Lanny, you are the kindest, sweetest man I've ever known.”
“It's easy for me to be generous with money I don't have to earn,” said he.
She answered: “I don't mean only that. I mean a lot, lot more than that.”
He felt her hand trembling, and a strange feeling which he had learned to know began to steal over him. When she leaned toward him he put his arm about her. They sat so for quite a while; until at last the girl whispered: “Lanny, let me tell you how I feel.”
She waited, as if it were a question; he answered: “Yes, dear, of course.”
“I think you are the best person I've ever known, and I'll do anything I can to make you happy — anything in this world. You have my promise that I'll never ask anything of you, never make any claim upon you — never, never!”
So there was Lanny mixed up with the sex problem again. His father had said: “It's hard to say no.” Lanny found that it was impossible.