Cynthia struggled to regain her composure. This was a bitter disappointment, but she must make every effort to prevail upon Neal to yield.
"I'm not crying," she said, blinking her eyes very hard. "Tell me what you mean."
"I don't mean anything in particular, except that I wanted to see you again, perhaps for the last time." This with a rather tragic air.
"The last time?"
"Yes. I've made up my mind to cut loose from everybody, and just look out for myself after this. If my only sister suspects me of stealing, I don't care to have anything more to do with her. I can easily get along until I'm twenty-five. I'll just knock round and take things easy, and if I go to the bad no one will care particularly."
"Neal, I had no idea you were such a coward!" exclaimed Cynthia, indignantly.
"Coward! You had better look out, Cynthia. I won't stand much of that sort of thing."
"YOU WERE AFRAID TO BRAVE IT OUT. AFRAID!"
"You've got to stand it. I call you a coward. You ran away like a boy in a dime novel, just because you couldn't stand having anything go wrong. You were afraid to brave it out. Afraid!"