David held his head in his hands and tried to think. With the return of his faculties the spirit of morose disheartenment and impatient resentment which had brought him to the mining-camp, and had been the chief factor in precipitating the quarrel with Lushing, was reasserting itself. Since the bitter moods grow by what they feed upon, he could see nothing in just perspective. What a fool’s Paradise he had been living in since the Grillage private car had come to anchor in the construction yard! He had been crying for the moon, and the moon had been kind enough to shine for him--when there was no one else to shine upon. But now there were others.... “I don’t know,” he said abstractedly, in answer to her question as to where she should go. “It’s a pretty tough old world, Judith.” Then, suddenly: “Are you still blaming me?” “For what would I be blaming you?” “For chasing around with you in the old days and giving you the idea that I was going to marry you some time?” “That’s all past and gone, Davie, dear.” “Past and gone, maybe, but that doesn’t let me out. I know you’ve got your father, but I can’t help feeling more or less responsible for you. It has worried me a lot.” “You shouldn’t be worrying.” “I can’t help it. Last year, after I went to Wisconsin, I had a sort of plan worked out, and I wrote you twice before I found out that you’d left Middleboro. What you need--what you’ve always needed, Judith--is something that you could put your whole heart into, like--well, like music. My notion was that you could go to some good conservatory and study, and I was ready to help you. Is it too late to consider something of that kind now?” She shook her head. “’Tis much too late, Davie.” “You mean that you’re tied up with this man Dargin?” “We’ll leave Jack Dargin be. There’s the old father; he’s not what he used to be, Davie; what with mother dying, and me----” “I know,” he interposed hastily. “Plegg told me about that, too. But here’s more trouble, Judith. This man Dargin is your friend, or at least I’m trying to believe that he has befriended you, and I’ve got to chase him and his bunch out of Powder Can. I came over here to-night to tell him so. That muddles things still worse.” “You’d better be letting Powder Can alone.” “No, I can’t do that; it’s cutting too much out of the efficiency record on the job. I can’t fight Lushing and his outfit, and a booze joint as well. And right there, you break in. From what you’ve admitted, a lick at Jack Dargin is going to hurt you worse than it will him. And I don’t want to hurt you, Judith.” “You shouldn’t be thinking so much about me.” “Yes, I should; you need somebody to think about you. I wish you’d consider that notion of mine. You could take your father with you. He is too good a workman to be throwing himself away in a mine repair shop. He can get a better job anywhere he goes. I could get Mr. Grillage to help a bit in that direction. He knows everybody, everywhere.”