"No. I changed once, eighteen years ago. I can't go back.... I can't undo all I hoped was good."
"You think Collie'd fear you?"
"She'd never love me as she does you, or as she loves me even now. That is my rock of refuge."
"She'd hate you, Wade."
"I reckon. An' so she must never know."
"Ahuh!... Wal, wal, life is a hell of a deal! Wade, if you could live yours over again, knowin' what you know now, an' that you'd love an' suffer the same--would you want to do it?"
"Yes. I love life, with all it brings. I wouldn't have the joy without the pain. But I reckon only men who've come to our years would want it over again."
"Wal, I'm with you thar. I'd take what came. Rain an' sun!... But all this you tell, an' the hell you hint at, ain't changin' this hyar deal of Jack's an' Collie's. Not one jot!... If she remains my adopted daughter she marries my son.... Wade, I'm haltered like the north star in that."
"Belllounds, will you take a day to think it over?" appealed Wade.
"Ahuh! But that won't change me."