It isn't all Christine
with me. I just want to tell you that."
"I understand, Tom," she said, still more gently.
"I can't take any help from your father," he managed to say after
another long period of silence.
"He will offer nothing but his hand and his well-wishes."
"This is all so unexpected. I'm trying to get too many things through
my head at once. Let me think for a minute or two."
She was silent, looking off into the gloomy little street below. A man
was whistling gayly near by. From afar came the sound of rumbling
street cars. She had not noticed these or any other sounds before. A
policeman came up to the corner, stopped and looked at the huddled
twain for a minute or two, and then moved off. The sight of that
uniform created a sudden chill in her heart. Tom Braddock began
speaking again, in low, steady tones in which there was not only a
sort of bitter determination but something like defiance.
"What's more, Mary, I won't accept anything from you. Whatever you've
got, put it aside for Christine or against the time when you may need
it yourself. I'm not going to live off you.
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