Page:Barbour--Peggy in the rain.djvu/215

 too much for me, Leona. That sounds a rotten thing to say, but it's the truth. She begged me not to try to find her. Well, I didn't. That's the only decent thing I can say for myself. I drove her away from home, and for all I know she may be starving somewhere this minute."

But Leona shook her head. "She isn't, Gordon. She's too clever a girl for that. She is probably on a newspaper somewhere. I'm certain that if she were ever really in distress she'd come to me or write. I wouldn't worry about that."

"I hope you're right," he answered. "Sometimes I dream the most—the most damnable things about her. Do you believe there is anything in dreams?"

"Only indigestion," she replied lightly. "I suppose, Gordon, you didn't offer her marriage? Don't answer if you'd rather not."

"How could I?" he asked with a gesture of helplessness. "You must understand how I am placed. God knows if I had only myself to consider I'd crawl on my hands and knees to her and beg her to marry me."

She smiled faintly. "You men are strange creatures, aren't you? If the tables had been