"I couldn't die now," he thought. "I couldn't. It wouldn't be fair. I wouldn't let myself die ... I wouldn't!"
And as suddenly as the fear of death had fallen on him, it left him.
"Good Lord!" he said aloud, "what an ass I am!"
6
Sheila was sitting on a stool in front of the door. Her uncle had gone to bed, and her aunt, tired after her day's work and her attendance on the sick man, was lying on the sofa, dosing.
"I wondered were you comin'," Sheila said as he came up to her.
"You knew I'd come," he answered.
"I didn't know anything of the sort," she exclaimed, getting up from the stool. "Fellas has disappointed me before this."
"Have you had other sweethearts?" he asked, frowning.
She laughed at him. "I've had boys since I was that high," she replied, holding out her hand to indicate her height when she first had a sweetheart. "What are you lookin' so sore about? D'ye think no one never looked at me 'til you came along? For dear sake!"