"Poor little girl!" For a long time he sat there looking at her white, averted face. A slow smile slowly struggled to the corners of his mouth, "I can't afford to run away," he said at last. "I've just got to stick by my job. It means a lot to me now, Jane dear."
She looked up quickly, her face clearing.
"I love you, Eric. I know you are innocent of anything they may charge you with. I know it. And I would give all I have in the world to help you in your hour of trouble. Listen, dear. I want you to accept this in the right spirit. Don't let pride stand in the way. It is really something I want to do,—something that will make me—oh, so happy, if you will just let me do it. I am earning five guineas a week. It is more than I need. Now, dear, just for a little while,—until you have found another place in some city far away from New York,—you must let me share my— What is there to laugh at, Eric?" she cried in a hurt voice.
He grew sober at once.
"I'm—I'm sorry," he said. "Thank you,—and God bless you, Jane. It's fine. You're a brick. But,—but I can't accept it. Please don't say anything more about it, dear. I just can't,—that's all."
"Oh, dear," she sighed. "And—and you refuse to go away? You will not escape while there is yet—"
"See here, dear," he began, his jaw setting, "I am not underrating the seriousness of this affair. They may have put up a beast of a job on me. They fixed it so that I hadn't a chance three years ago. Perhaps they've decided to finish the job and have done with me for ever. I don't put it above them, curse them. Here's the story in a nutshell. I have two cousins in the Army,
