"My dear boy!" exclaimed Patty softly. "My dear boy! Think what it is saving you from! You won't have to go to j—— Oh, I can't say it. But you won't have to, now, will you, Charlie? Say you won't."
"No," said he, sighing heavily again, "I guess I won't. But, as far as I am concerned, that is of very little consequence. It is you that I am thinking of. Mother and Sally wouldn't care, except as it would reflect on them, whether I was in jail or not. Of course," he added, with an apparent wish to be fair, "I may be doing them an injustice, but I don't think so. But it is different with you. Aside from the disgrace which I should be bringing down on your head, I think you would feel it, for my sake."
"Feel it!" she murmured. "Feel it! Oh, Charlie, dear! I believe I should die. I know it would kill me."
Charlie smiled sympathetically.
Tears stood in Patty's eyes. "You shall have eight hundred dollars to-morrow morning. I'll get it as soon as the bank is open. And you come here after it. Come early, Charlie. I want you all to myself for a little while."
"Thank you, Pat. I am very grateful."
She looked longingly at him; a look which he seemed not to see.
"Charlie," she said softly.
"Yes, Pat?"
She hesitated for a moment. "K-kiss me, Charlie." Her voice was so low that he scarcely heard her. "Kiss me, won't you, dear?"