_She_: “You would have parted from me without a syllable to suggest it—perhaps parted from me forever?” After a pause of silent humiliation for him: “Do you call that brave or generous? Do you call it manly—supposing, as you hoped, that _I_ had any such feeling?” _He_: “No; it was cowardly, it was mean, it was unmanly. I see it now, but I will spend my life in repairing the wrong, if you will only let me.” He impetuously advances some paces toward her, and then stops, arrested by her irresponsive attitude. _She_, with a light sigh, and looking down at the paper, which she has continued to hold between her hands: “There was a time—a moment—when I might have answered as you wish.” _He_: “Oh! then there will be again. If you have changed once, you may change once more. Let me hope that some time—any time, dearest”— _She_, quenching him with a look: “Mr. Ransom, I shall _never_ change toward you! You confess that you had your opportunity, and that you despised it.” _He_: “Oh! _not_ despised it!” _She_: “Neglected it.” _He_: “Not wilfully—no. I confess that I was stupidly, vilely, pusillan—pusillan—illani”— _She_: “’Monsly”— _He_: “Thanks—’mously unworthy of it; but I didn’t despise it; I didn’t neglect it; and if you will only let me show by a lifetime of devotion how dearly and truly I have loved you from the first moment I drove that cow away”— _She_: “Mr. Ransom, I have told you that I should never change toward you. That cow was nothing when weighed in the balance against your being willing to leave a poor girl, whom you supposed interested in you, and to whom you had paid the most marked attention, without a word to show her that you cared for her. What is a cow, or a whole herd of cows, as compared with obliging a young lady to offer you money that you hadn’t earned, and then savagely flinging it back in her face? A yoke of oxen would be nothing—or a mad bull.” _He_: “Oh, I acknowledge it! I confess it.” _She_: “And you own that I am right in refusing to listen to you now?” _He_, desolately: “Yes, yes.” _She_: “It seems that you gave me lessons in order to be with me, and if possible to interest me in you; and then you were going away without a word.” _He_, with a groan: “It was only because I was afraid to speak.” _She_: “Oh, is _that_ any excuse?” _He_: “No; none.” _She_: “A man ought always to have courage.” After a pause, in which he stands before her with bowed head: “Then there’s nothing for me but to give you this money.” _He_, with sudden energy: “This is too much! I”— _She_, offering him the bank-notes: “No; it is the exact sum. I counted it very carefully.” _He_: “I won’t take it; I can’t! I’ll never take it!” _She_, standing with the money in her outstretched hand: “I have your word as a gentleman that you will take it.” _He_, gasping: “Oh, well—I will take it—I will”—He clutches the money, and rushes toward the door. “Good-evening; ah—good-by”—