"But, Magnus, we used to be just brother and sister," Cherry said very low. "No, we didn't. Maybe you think so. We're not that now, anyway, and never shall be again. That was why I poured out the whole thing to you last night, and made you sick. I wanted you to know everything there was to tell. Just how weak and wicked and mean I could be. I knew I didn't deserve to hold your hand this morning, and that was the very reason I wanted it so much." "But, Magnus," Cherry said, the bright drops welling up again, "that 'could' is in the past." "With the Lord's help, yes!" he answered. "I will live a pure life and a true life, even if I must live it alone. Your arrow did its work." "Mine?" the girl cried. "Oh, Magnus, was I so unkind?" "So kind. But I was pierced through, all the same." "I did not mean it," she said, the tears dropping down. "Oh, Magnus, I did not mean it!" "Well, you had better mean it," he said; "good enough for me. If there were more girls like you in the world there'd be more better men. Why, half of the women you see almost put the stuff down your throat. Give it to you so sweetened and spiced and fussed up that you don't know what you're taking. And when it's once in your mouth, it's pretty hard not to swallow it." "Very hard, I should think," said Cherry. "It looks easier to refuse it altogether." "For you, I dare say; but things are not always exactly what they look, for other people. However, I am going to try it. So if you ever happen to read in the papers of a hopelessly insane cadet, you'll know who it is." Again the girl's eyes filled, though a bit of a smile came too. "Magnus," she said, "I think you are called to be a leader." "Looks like it." "But I mean, really. How many other fellows, do you think, may take heart to follow, if you will but show the way?" "So you said before. How many? I don't know; perhaps some. Oh, there are men enough there now who never touch anything stronger than water. And I never did, till that unlucky night. But I've been in lately, somehow, with the other crowd." "Crowds are unsafe places," Cherry said with a sigh. "Well, don't waste any long breaths on me," Magnus said. "Why do you?" The girl's lips parted in that same pathetic smile, but then they began to quiver, trembling so that she could not speak. "I wonder at you," Magnus repeated. "Why don't you tell me all your mind, and bid me go? What do _you_ want of such a Derelict?" "Magnus, you are very hard to me." "I? Hard to you?" Magnus repeated, at her feet now. "To you? My beauty, and treasure, and heart's delight? The girl I love best in all the world, and the only one I ever can love better than everything else. I, hard to _you_? The girl I left behind me, with my heart in her keeping. And now she sits there, despising me. Cherry, I never was anything but true to you; never. I have fooled with other girls, but I did not care a red cent for the whole lot."