"I don't agree with you. George found his level in that little nobody, as you all have called her. Poor little thing, she was not so lucky as I. She did not have her eyes opened in time. She had no chance to escape. But we're not here to talk about Lutie Carnahan. I have told my grandfather that I intend to break this thing off if it is in my power to do so. I shall not give up until I know that you are actually married. It is a crime that must not—" "How do you purpose breaking it off?" she inquired shrilly. Visions of a strong figure rising in the middle of the ceremony to cry out against the final words flashed into her mind. Would she have that to look forward to and dread? "I shall go on appealing to your honour, your decency, your self-respect, if not to the love you say you bear for me." She breathed easier. "And will you confine your appeals to me?" "What do you mean?" "I thought you might take it into your head to appeal to Mr. Thorpe's honour, decency, self-respect and love for you," she said, sullenly. "He is quite as guilty as I, remember." "He has quite a different object in view. He seems to feel that he is doing me a good turn, not an evil one." "Bosh!" She was angry. "And what will be your attitude toward me if you _do_ succeed in preventing the marriage? Will you take me back as I was before this thing came up? Will you make me your wife, just as if nothing had happened? In view of my deliberate intention to deny you, will you forget everything and take me back?" He put his hand to his throat, and for a moment appeared to be struggling against himself. "I will take you back, Anne, as if nothing had happened, if you will say to me here and now that you will marry me to-morrow." She stared at him, incredulous. Her heart began to beat rapidly once more and the anger died away. "You would do that, knowing me to be what I am?" "Knowing you to be what you _were_," he amended eagerly. "Oh, Anne, you are worth loving, you are pure of heart and—" "If I will marry you to-morrow?" she went on, watching his face closely. "Yes. But you must say it now—this instant. I will not grant you a moment's respite. If you do not say the word now, your chance is gone forever. It has to be now, Anne." "And if I refuse—what then?" "I would not marry you if you were the only woman on earth," he said flatly. She smiled. "Are you sure that you love me, Braden?" "I will love you when you become what you were,—a month ago," he said simply. "A girl worth the honour of being loved," he added. "Men sometimes love those who are not worth the honour," she said, feeling her way. "They cannot help themselves." "Will you say the word _now_?" he demanded hoarsely. She sighed. It was a sigh of relief,—perhaps of triumph. He was safe for all time. He would come to her in the end. She was on solid ground once more. "I am afraid, Braden, that I cannot play fast and loose with a man as old as Mr. Thorpe," she said lightly.