"You always said you would, if it wasn't for Dick; and Dick ain't here no more. There ain't no harm in loving me now." He tried to draw her to him. "Aw, come on!" he pleaded. "You know you like me." She withdrew her hand--shrank from him. "Don't!" she said. "I like you, Jim. You know I always did. You was always good to me. I never cared much for Dick. Him and me teamed up pretty well. That was all. It was always you, Jim, that I cared for. But, somehow, now, I wish I'd loved Dick--more than I did. I feel different, now. I wish--oh, I wish--that I'd loved him!" The man frowned. "He's dead," she continued. "I can't tell him nothing, now. The chance is gone. But I wish I'd loved him!" "He never done much for you." "Yes, he did, Jim!" she answered, quickly. "He done all a man can do for a woman!" She was smiling--but in an absent way. The man started. There was a light in her eyes he had never seen before. "He give me," she said, "the boy!" "You're crazy about that kid," the man burst out, a violent, disgusted whisper. "You're gone out of your mind." "No, I ain't," she replied, doggedly. "I'm different since I got him. That's all. And I'd like Dick to know that I look at him different since he died. I can't love Dick. I never could. But I could thank him if he was here. Do you mind what I called the boy? I don't call him Claud now. I call him--Richard. It's all I can do to show Dick that I'm grateful." The man caught his breath--in angry impatience. "Millie," he warned, "the boy'll grow up." She put her hands to her eyes. "He'll grow up and leave you. What you going to do then?" "I don't know," she sighed. "Just--go along." "You'll be all alone, Millie." "He loves me!" she muttered. "He'll never leave me!" "He's got to, Millie. He's got to be a man. You can't keep him." "Maybe I _can't_ keep him," she replied, in a passionate undertone. "Maybe I _do_ love you. Maybe he'd get to love you, too. But look at him, Jim! See where he lies?" The man turned towards the bed. "It's on my side, Jim! Understand? He lies there always till I come in. Know why?" He watched her curiously.