I have to stay here and earn bread and butter for you and me, or we'll come short of it.

If ye think I'm going to let ye go with a man I know little about--" His voice broke off in indignation, and as for the girl, whether from sudden anger at being thus spoken to, or from the conviction of disappointment which had been slowly forcing itself upon her, she began to cry.

His anger vanished, leaving an evident discomfort behind.

He stood before her with a weary look of effort on his face, as if he were casting all things in heaven and earth about in his mind to find which of them would be most likely to afford her comfort, or at least, to put an end to tears which, perhaps for a reason unknown to himself, gave him excessive annoyance.
"Come, Sissy"-- feebly--"give over." But the girl went on crying, not loudly or passionately, but with no sign of discontinuance, as she stood there, large and miserable, before him.

He settled his shoulders obstinately against the wood pile, thinking to wait till she should speak or make some further sign.
Nothing but strength of will kept him in his place, for he would gladly have fled from her.