am not in love with you, and I have not a penny in the world.
Literally, I have nothing."

"You have a mother," says Tita. "I," pathetically, "have nothing."
It is plain to him that she had set great store by her dead father.
"I have nothing, really. But you say this house must go?"

"Not if you will help me to keep it."

"I should not like to live here," says Tita, with some haste. And
then in a low tone, "Your mother would live here?"

"Yes, certainly."

"Well, and I--I have been very unhappy with Uncle George," says she.
Her air is so naïve that Rylton bursts out laughing. After all, the
last thing he would desire either would be to live here with his
mother.

"You would not have to make this place your home," says he. It had
never been a home to him since his father's death. "You shall
command me in this matter; I shall live at Oakdean if that is your
desire." Indeed, it seems to him it would be a great relief to get
away from the Hall, from his mother, from----

"To live at Oakdean!" The girl's face grows transfigured. She stares
at him as if hardly seeing him, however; her thoughts have carried
her back to past delights in which he has had no part. "To live
there again!" She sighs quickly, excitedly. "You haven't seen it,
you don't _know,"_ says she. "But it is the most beautiful place on