“Honest?” “Honest.” “Oh, shucks--what's the use!” he cried, with sudden fierce resolution. “You've got me, Kiddo, you've got me! I've been eatin' out of your hand since the minute I laid my eyes on you in that big room. I'm all yours. You can do anything you want with me. For God's sake, tell me that you like me a little.” The blood slowly mounted to her cheeks in red waves of tremulous emotion. “I like you very much,” she said in low tones. He seized her hand and held it in a desperate grip. “I love you, Kiddo,” he went on passionately. “You don't mind me calling you Kiddo? You're so dainty and pretty and sweet, and that dimple keeps coming in your cheek, it just seems like that's the word--you don't mind?” “No----” “You don't know how I've been starvin' all my life for the love of a pure girl like you. You're the first one I ever spoke to. I was scared to death yesterday when I saw you. But I'd 'a' spoke to you if it killed me in my tracks. I couldn't help it. It just looked like an angel had dropped right down out of the gold clouds from that ceilin'. I was afraid I'd lose you in the crowd and never see you again. It didn't seem you were a stranger anyhow--I didn't seem strange to you, did I?” Her lips quivered, and she was silent. “Didn't you feel like you'd known me somewhere before?” he pleaded. “Yes.” “I just felt you did, and that's what give me courage. Oh, Kiddo, you've got to love me a little--I've never been loved by a human soul in all my life. The first thing I remember was hidin' under a stoop from a brute who beat me every night. I ran away and slept in barrels and crawled into coal shutes till I was big enough to earn a livin' sellin' papers. For years I never knew what it meant to have enough to eat. I just scratched and fought my way through the streets like a little hungry wolf till I got in a blacksmith's shop down on South Street and learned to handle tools. I was quick and smart, and the old man liked me and let me sleep in the shop. I had enough to eat then and got strong as an ox. I went to the night schools and learned to read and write. I don't know anything, but I'm quick and you can teach me--you will, won't you?” “I'll try,” was the low answer. “You do like me, Kiddo? Say it again!” She rose to her feet and looked out over the sea, her face scarlet. “Yes, I do,” she said at last. With a sudden resistless sweep he clasped her in his arms and kissed her lips. Her heart leaped in mad response to the first kiss a lover had ever given. Her body quivered and relaxed in his embrace. It was sweet--it was wonderful beyond words. He kissed her again, and she clung to him, lifting her eyes to his at last in a long, wondering gaze and then pressed her own lips to his. “Oh, my God, Kiddo, you love me! It beats the world, don't it? Love at first sight for both of us! I've heard about it, but I didn't think it would ever happen to me like this--did you?”