“He's going to talk to them,” said Miller, aloud to Wilson. “Mr. Daniel's speech almost shook them out of their boots, and he saw he was losing ground. It looks squally.”
“You are right,” said Wilson, gloomily. “Our chances are very slim.”
Miller caught Adele's eye and went to her.
“I'm bound to say the outlook is not so favorable,” he said. “If we could have put it to a vote just after your uncle spoke we would have clinched them, but Bartell thinks his election depends on beating us today, and being the chief land-owner he has influence.”
“It will break my heart,” said the girl, tremulously. “Poor father and mother! They look as if they were on trial for their lives. Oh, I had so much hope as we drove over here this morning, but now—”
“I can' t bear to see you take it that way,” said Miller, tenderly. “I did not intend to speak to you so soon about another matter, but I can' t put it off. You have become very, very dear to me, little girl. In fact, I never dreamed there was such a thing as genuine, unselfish love till I knew you. It seems to me that you were actually created for me. I want you to be my wife. Somehow I feel that you care for me, at least a little, and I believe when you realize how much I love you, and how devoted I shall be, you will love me as I do you.”
To his surprise she averted her face and said nothing, though he remarked that she had paled a little and compressed her lips. He waited a moment, then said, anxiously:
“Haven't you something to say, Adele? Perhaps I have misread you all along and really have no right to hope. Oh, that would be hard to bear!”
“It is not that,” she said, her breast heaving suddenly. “It is not that.”
“Not that?” he repeated, his wondering eyes fixed on hers.