He saw tears start into her eyes. “Haven’t you _known_ you were making me suffer? Here I was as Percy’s guest; and to have you put such questions to me! What could I say? What do I know about the way Mr. Harrigan should run his business?” “Yes, dear,” he said, humbly. “Perhaps I shouldn’t have drawn you into it. But the matter was so complicated and so sudden. Can’t you understand that, and forgive me? Everything has turned out so well!” But she did not think that everything had turned out well. “In the first place, for you to be here, in such a plight! And when I thought you were hunting mountain-goats in Mexico!” He could not help laughing; but Jessie had not even a smile. “And then--to have you drag our love into the thing, there before every one!” “Was that really so terrible, Jessie?” She looked at him with amazement. That he, Hal Warner, could have done such a thing, and not realise how terrible it was! To put her in a position where she had to break either the laws of love or the laws of good-breeding! Why, it had amounted to a public quarrel. It would be the talk of the town--there was no end to the embarrassment of it! “But, sweetheart!” argued Hal. “Try to see the reality of this thing--think about those people in the mine. You really _must_ do that!” She looked at him, and noticed the new, grim lines that had come upon his youthful face. Also, she caught the note of suppressed passion in his voice. He was pale and weary looking, in dirty clothes, his hair unkempt and his face only half washed. It was terrifying--as if he had gone to war. “Listen to me, Jessie,” he insisted. “I want you to know about these things. If you and I are ever to make each other happy, you must try to grow up with me. That was why I was glad to have you here--you would have a chance to see for yourself. Now I ask you not to go without seeing.” “But I have to go, Hal. I can’t ask Percy Harrigan to stay and inconvenience everybody!” “You can stay without him. You can ask one of the ladies to chaperon you.” She gazed at him in dismay. “Why, Hal! What a thing to suggest!” “Why so?” “Think how it would look!” “I can’t think so much about looks, dear--” She broke in: “Think what Mamma would say!” “She wouldn’t like it, I know--” “She would be wild! She would never forgive either of us. She would never forgive any one who stayed with me. And what would Percy say, if I came here as his guest, and stayed to spy on him and his father? Don’t you see how preposterous it would be?” Yes, he saw. He was defying all the conventions of her world, and it seemed to her a course of madness. She clutched his hands in hers, and the tears ran down her cheeks. “Hal,” she cried, “I can’t leave you in this dreadful place! You look like a ghost, and a scarecrow, too! I want you to go and get some decent clothes and come home on this train.” But he shook his head. “It’s not possible, Jessie.” “Why not?”