Page:Georgie by Dorothea Deakin, 1906.djvu/295

When the Girls Came Out tears as Anne's had been, and oh, so much more beautiful. "Say," she whispered with a sob, "you're his friend. I guess you can see that Georgie's throwing away a real good thing?"

"I can, indeed," said I with heartfelt fervor, but she passed this by.

"Georgie doesn't know the first thing about real love," she said. "He cayn't see why I came back. I just worship that boy. I guess he's tired of his little Puritan by now. And I cayn't do without him. I've never had to do without anything before, and it hurts some. The thought of fever sent me crazy that day I went away, but I felt meaner'n two cents when I cooled down and saw what a fool I'd been. I guess I've spoiled my eyes for good crying over Georgie ever since."

I was silent, and she laid her hand on my coat-sleeve.

"If you and your little peach of a wife talk to him nicely," said she, "he might be taught to see what he's throwing away. 279