Part 64 (2/2)

”I drew the last straw that day. I drew the responsibility of keeping the HC on its feet. I feel that I have helped to do that....”

”You have.”

”Through sickness and through death, through dark days and storms. I have done something! I have walked alone, unaided....

”And I have made you love me, Tom.... _That_ is the biggest thing I have done. To be worthy of your love was my greatest undertaking. By being worthy, by winning you, I have justified my being here, my walking the earth, my breathing the air....”

”Sho!” he cried in embarra.s.sment, and took the locket and fingered it.

His hand dropped to the blanket and he stared upward as though a fresh idea had occurred to him.

”Say, I wonder if the Reverend was a regular preacher?” he asked.

”Why? He was a doer of good works. Why consider his actual standing?”

”Yeah. But I mean, could he marry folks, do you s'pose?”

He looked at her again and in his eyes was that amused twinkle, the laugh of a man a.s.sured, content, self sufficient ... and behind it was the tenderness that comes to a strong man's eyes only when he looks upon the woman who has given him love for love.

”If he could he'd be glad to,” he said, ”and I suspect that he'd throw a little variety into the ceremony ... something, likely, about your fightin' a good fight!”

THE END

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