“What!  Oh, I hardly know,” a touch of hysteria in the nervous exclamation.  “It was just a natural ending to all the rest, I suppose.  I was a criminal in heart, a fugitive; I hated the law, and was afraid of the police.  I merely did what occurred to me first, without thought, volition, purpose.  I was compelled to choose instantly between his mercy and yours; the—­the difference seemed small enough then, but—­but I realized you were frightened also, and—­and so I preferred to trust you.  That was all; it was my fate, and—­and, well I did n’t care much how it ended.”

“But you endeavored to escape from me; you sought to compel my leaving you?”

She lifted her face again, flushing, saddened, slightly indignant, the brown eyes widening.

“Perhaps the soul was not all dead,” she returned gravely.  “Perhaps womanhood was not all gone.  I did not know you; I was in terror.”

“And now?”

Our eyes met, her own cleared of tears, gazing frankly at me.

“I am not afraid; I believe I have found a man, and a friend.”

I was conscious of a sudden wild throb of the heart, a swift rush of blood through my veins.

“I might have doubted that myself a while ago,” I acknowledged almost bitterly, “but now I am going to make good.  Lord! how a fellow can run to seed when he lets himself go.  Don’t you know you are helping me, as much as I am you?  You didn’t find much out there—­only a drunken discharged soldier, an ex-hobo, with a laborer’s job.  I ’ve wasted my chance in life, and been an infernal fool.  I can see that plain enough, and despise myself for it.  I knew it before you came—­the difference was then I did n’t care, while now I do.  You have made me care.  Yes, you have, girl,” as she glanced up again, plainly startled by this unexpected avowal.  “You care, and because I know you do, things are different.  I mean it; this is no word play.  I tell you when a man has been steadily dropping, in his own estimation, as well as the social scale; when he has just about lost his pride, his self-respect, his realization of right and wrong; when he sees nothing ahead worth fighting for; when he seeks happiness in drink, and makes companions out of crooks and hobos, that is when it amounts to something to have a real woman like you come into his life, and hear her speak of trust and friendship.  Lord! it ’s like a breath of pure air amid the foulness of the pit.  I believe in you, and I have n’t believed in anybody for a long while.  Perhaps you didn’t wholly mean all you said to me; perhaps you ’ll forget about it when your luck changes, but it ’s a thing that is going to stay with me; you can bet on that!  I guess it was what I ’ve been hungry for; the loss of it had taken the very heart out of me,” I paused, fearful I might be going too far, yet given fresh courage by the expression of her face.  “You see you belong to my class, little girl, and—­and you are the first of them to speak a kind word to me in five years.  It’s—­it’s a bit tough to be cut dead by your own class.”