"No. That is not all," she whispered hoarsely, putting her hands out as though pushing something tangible aside until she could reach Conning. "I demand the rest." "What matters it?" Truedale spoke bitterly. "If I tell how and why, can that alter the--fact? Oh! I have had my hours of explaining and justifying and glossing over; but I've come at last to the point where I see myself as I am and I shall never argue the thing again." "Con, you have shown me the man as man might see him; I must--I must have him as a woman--as his God--must see him!" "And you think it possible for me to grant this? You--you, Lynda, would you have me put up a defense for what I did?" "No. But I would have you throw all the light upon it that you can. I want to see--for myself. I will not accept the hideous skeleton you have hung before me. Con, I have never really known but five men in my life; but women--women have lain heart deep along my way ever since--I learned to know my mother! Not only for yourself, but for that girl who drifted into your solitude, I demand light--all that you can give me!" And now Truedale breathed hard and the muscles of his face twitched. He was about to lay bare the inscrutable, the holy thing of his life, fearing that even the woman near him could not be just. He had accepted his own fate, so he thought; he meant not to whine or complain, but how was he to live his life if Lynda failed to agree with him--where Nella-Rose was concerned? "Will you--can you--do what I ask, Con?" "Yes--in a minute." "You--loved her? She loved you--Con?" Lynda strove to smooth the way, not so much for Truedale as for herself. "Yes! I found her in my cabin one day when I returned from a long tramp. She had decked herself out in my bathrobe and the old fez. Not knowing anything about me, she was horribly frightened when I came upon her. At first she seemed nothing but a child--she took me by storm. We met in the woods later. I read to her, taught her, played with her--I, who had never played in my life before. Then suddenly she became a woman! She knew no law but her own; she was full of courage and daring and a splendid disregard for conventions as--as we all know them. For her, they simply did not exist. I--I was willing and eager to cast my future hopes of happiness with hers--God knows I was sincere in that!