Page:Old ninety-nine's cave.djvu/109

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quite clear—it might have been five minutes or it might have been hours. The beating of his heart was almost choking him. He felt her fingers tighten their hold. "Granny," he began huskily, "you are the only grandmother I have ever known."

"Then prove it by believing me loyal."

"I do believe it but you would not understand were I to tell you what is on my heart."

"I would try to."

"Let us suppose a case, a man whose environment and heredity—on one side at any rate—are morally debilitating. Alas! He knows the seamy side of life, has drunk to the full the cup of pleasure and found dregs at the bottom. Yet he does not realize the depths of degradation into which he has fallen, is simply doing as others before him have done and are still doing. Circumstances place him amid totally different surroundings. He is an honored member of a Christian household, a household where naught but good abides. One among them is a woman, such a one as he never believed lived outside of dreams and