Page:MacLeod Raine - The Sheriff's Son.djvu/334

 "Of course, you 'll despise me—you of all people. How could you help it?"

Her body leaned toward him ever so slightly. Love lit her face like a soft light.

"Shall I? How do you know?"

"It cuts so deep—goes to the bottom of things. If a fellow is wild or even bad, he may redeem himself. But you can't make a man out of a yellow cur. The stuff is n't there." The words came out jerkily as if with some physical difficulty.

"If you mean about coming up to the park, I know about that," she said gently. "Mr. Dingwell told father. I think it was splendid of you."

"No, that is n't it. I knew I was right in coming and that some day you would understand." He dropped the hand from his face and looked straight at her. "Dave did n't tell your father that I had to be flogged into going, did he? He did n't tell him that I tried to dodge out of it with excuses."

"Of course, you were n't anxious to throw up your own affairs and run into danger for a man you had never met. Why should you be wild for the chance. But you went."

"Oh, I went. I had to go. Ryan put it up to