I don't know that she felt she wanted him, but she was under such obligations to him that it seemed as if she must wait to see if he might not possibly come, and if he did she should be free." "If he came, she preferred him ?" "There was a debt she had to pay----if he asked it.

I don't know whether she preferred him.

I do know she had no idea that he would come, but the POSSIBILITY was always before her.

If he didn't come in time, would she be wrong in giving all she had to the man who loved her ?" The Harvester's laugh was short and sharp.
"She had nothing to give, Ruth! Talk about worm-wood, colocynth apples, and hemlock! What sort of husks would that be to offer a man who gave honest love?
Lie to him! Pretend feeling she didn't experience.

Endure him for the sake of what he offered her?
Well I don't know how calmly any other man would take that proceeding, Ruth, but tell your friend for me, that if I offered a woman the deep, lasting, and only loving passion of my heart, and she gave back a lie and indifferent lips, I'd drop her into the deepest hole of my lake and take my punishment cheerfully." "But if it would make him happy?
He deserves every happiness, and he need never know!" The Harvester's laugh raised to an angry roar.
"You simpleton!" he cried roughly.