"Do--do you think it's right--? Oh, darn it! I'm all at sea!" he
steadied. "Joe, I'm giving it to you straight. I'm going to marry
Barbara if I can! Do you have any objections?"
Shocked surprise rippled through Joe and his heart turned cold. He felt
numb. He had always known that Barbara would marry some day, but that
day remained in the distant future and there was no need to worry about
it now. Joe thought of the young man who walked beside him, and of how
very little he knew about him. Again he thought of Snedeker's reference
to Ellis as a woman chaser and he had a great urge to ask Ellis to tell
him so that his own doubts might be cleared. But because he did not know
how to ask, Joe said only,
"Have you asked Barbara?"
"Yes."
"What did she say?"
"She didn't say no."
Joe pondered, trying to straighten this in his mind. He knew a little
more about Ellis than he had known a moment ago. Wherever he had come
from, and whatever he might have done, he had not tried to evade this
issue. He had given it to Joe straight, as a man should, and that was a
large point in his favor.