right for me to marry; if my situation justified it, and if to your
knowledge there was any other reason why I could not or should not.
You said there was not."

"There is no reason, of course. If she'll have you."

"I don't know that. I know that whether she will or not is a pretty
vital matter to me, David."

David nodded, silently.

"But now you want me to go away. To leave her. You're rather
urgent about it. And I feel-well I begin to think you have a reason
for it."

David clenched his hands under the bed-clothing, but he returned
Dick's gaze steadily.

"She's a good girl," he said. "But she's entitled to more than
you can give her, the way things are."

"That is presupposing that she cares for me. I haven't an idea
that she does. That she may, in time-- Then, that's the reason
for this Johns Hopkins thing, is it?"

"That's the reason," David said stoutly. "She would wait for you.
She's that sort. I've known her all her life. She's as steady
as a rock. But she's been brought up to have a lot of things.
Walter Wheeler is well off. You do as I want you to; pack your
things and go to Baltimore. Bring Reynolds down here to look