"I wish I were sure of it, but I could never be. I am, as I should be, very glad I have little Jim to love, for a man must have someone to love and work for."
"Howard, you have got to be bigger than that. You have succeeded a second time, and you are now more re-established materially; besides, you have done yourself honor--you have been the means of performing for this country a service that cannot be estimated----"
"No--Wood, you did it. It was all you, and I offer you again a half interest in the business, and this time you have got to take it. It's yours. I would never have regained it without your help."
"Howard," I said, grabbing him by the arms and raising him to his feet in a supreme determination to break his will, "from the first time I saw you until this moment you have had plenty of evidence of my friendship. I have never advised you wrong. I am not doing so now. As you stand there, resisting all reason, I spurn your offer and fling it from me as I would plunge tempered steel into the enemy. Our friendship is now being weighed for real values." My voice shook, for I was terribly in earnest as I continued:
"I tell you that you are wrong! As she has no one else to defend her, I shall. Hear me when I say that Norma Byng never had an impure or unchaste thought in her life. The Hun's proposal stunned her; shocked her beyond the power to move or speak. You ought to understand such a possibility. I have heard her story. Dissimulation in her is unthinkable. And what I say I know is not guesswork, but the result of a careful, painstaking search for your happiness, hers, and little Jim's. Howard, it is Christmas eve. Do you hear those bells ringing out to the world--peace and good will to men? Look at these papers," said I, taking out the original warrants for one Canby. "Take a look at them and judge for yourself whether or not I was won to your cause by little Jim first--her little Jim as much as yours--because she looked like, and reminded me of Norma Byng. Suppose I had given these papers to the marshall to serve. Can't you see why--it was little Jim, whom she brought into the world. Drop your distrust. Let your love light the way and come with me," I said impulsively, taking him by the hand and leading him across the hall.