"Sweet cookie, that's nothing. Many a time I haven't been able to pry a dollar bill loose."
"That is different. You're--you're working and it takes time to make a living," with sweet earnestness. Tommy shot a quick look at her. Was she laughing at him? No, she was taking his lack of funds seriously. "About that Alexandrite ring. Once Jerry would have ordered it by wire before you could say 'Jack Robinson'--but all she said was, 'I--I'm not buying jewels now, Peg.' Has she turned miser or has Dad----" her eyes flew to Benson's in startled questioning. "Dad was furious because Jerry and Steve left New York. Could he have stopped her allowance? But--but if he did--surely Steve would give----" she stopped in troubled uncertainty.
"Why don't you ask your sister?" suggested Benson gravely.
"I will. I can't believe that Dad would--well he'd better never try to drive me. And that's that," with a defiant tilt of her chin.
"Would you stick to--to a man, a poor man, you loved even if you knew that your father would cut you off with the proverbial shilling?" Her hazel eyes met his turbulent blue ones frankly.
"Indeed I would, Mr. Tommy Benson. I shouldn't be afraid to marry a poor man, that is, a poor man with a future. I should want to be sure that he was that kind. I love to cook and sew and I should adore taking care of a ducky little house and brushing my husband's coat collar when he started off for work in the morning and going to market. There is only one thing I should hate to economize about----" her expression and tone were introspective. Benson was conscious that his heart was in his eyes but he didn't care. She was adorable with that thoughtful pucker of her vivid lips. He had to steady his voice before he asked lightly:
"And what may that one thing be, Peg-o'-my-heart?"
"Children," she answered promptly and with utter absence of self-consciousness. "I want eight and--and I suppose that's rather extravagant for a poor man to start with, don't you, Tommy?"
Benson held his emotions in a grip of steel. At that moment the boy-he-had-been waved good-bye and slipped away forever. The man's eyes were gravely tender as he answered the girl's question with judicial deliberation.