At last he said, "Well then tell me, Ruth.

Remember I don't want to hear what you have to say.

I will believe nothing against you, not even from your own lips, when you are feverish and excited as now, but if it will quiet you, tell me and have it over.

See, I will sit here and listen, and when you have finished I'll pick you up and carry you to your room, and I am not sure but I will kiss you over and over.

What is it you want to tell me, Ruth ?" She sat up panting and pushed back the heavy coils of hair.
"I've got to begin away at the beginning to make you see," she said.
"The first thing I can remember is a small, such a small room, and mother sewing and sometimes a man I called father.