The girls did not marry, and even when they did, he had figured this out to a dreary certainty, he would still not be free.

To pay the mortgages off, and keep up the house, even without his sisters, would require all the money the store would bring in for some six years ahead.

The young man set his teeth hard and turned his head sharply toward the road.
And there was Diantha.
She stood at the gate and smiled at him.

He sprang to his feet, headacheless for the moment, and joined her.

Mrs.Warden, from the lounge by her bedroom window, saw them move off together, and sighed.
"Poor Roscoe!" she said to herself.