“Yes; but I could not have taken your money,” she said. He smiled slightly.
“You couldn't have helped yourself! I should have had my dealings with Stark!”
She looked at him gratefully. His despondency, which he did not seek to hide from her, moved her to a feeling of greater sympathy than she had ever known for him.
“I am quite content here—it is only that it is strange now, but that will wear off.”
The lawyer's face suddenly lighted.
“I sha'n'. be burdened as I am now, long—I'll buy the farm back, and then you shall return to it, Virginia!” he said.
“No,” said Virginia. “I shall never go back there.”
“But why not?” he asked.
“I don't know. But I knew when I left, that I should never go back. I sometimes think that if I could, I would leave here.”
“Leave here, Virginia!”