Jane and Speedy nodded.
"I hope you two aren't sore because I announced your engagement," said Pop slyly. "I wasn't wrong, was I?"
Jane and Speedy nodded again—reassuringly. They looked at each other.
Pop caught the meaning of their silence and their glance. When they reached the Dillon home, he made a great show of winding the clock and yawning. Then he said good night significantly and went to bed.
When they were alone, on the divan in the living room, Speedy said, "You will marry me, won't you, Jane?"
"Of course," laughed Jane. "I've meant to ever since I've known you."
Speedy murmured something foolish and swept her into his arms.
When they were apart again, he declared earnestly, "I meant every word I said at the banquet about making good. Somehow I seem to have turned from a boy into a man, all in the last few days. I was such a boob before. Now I seem suddenly to have found out what it was all about. I feel a sense of responsibility that I never had before. It all came about because the people I love—you and Pop—were in danger, and it was up to me to do something about it.
"For the first time in my life I had a burden placed on me that I couldn't run away from. I guess it's coming up against something tough that develops a fellow, isn't it?"
