resolved themselves into one in the process of the inquiry. She asked, apparently as preliminary to answering a question of his, “Have you heard that gossip about my--being in--caring for the poor man?” “Yes.” “And did you--what did you think?” “That it wasn't true. I knew if there were anything in it, you couldn't have talked him over with me.” She was silent. Then she said, in a low voice: “No, there couldn't have been. But not for that reason alone, though it's very delicate and generous of you to think of it, very large-minded; but because it _couldn't_ have been. I could have worshipped him, but I couldn't have loved him--any more,” she added, with an implication that entirely satisfied him, “than I could have worshipped _you_.” THE END. End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Annie Kilburn, by William Dean Howells