"I wished I could die."
Emma said, "You must understand that not all women are good, Ellis, any
more than all men are. After enticing you to come along, and then
marrying someone else--"
"I haven't made myself clear, Mrs. Tower. She did not entice me to come
along; I came of my own free will and entirely because I wanted to. Nor
was Mary in any sense of the word bad or deceitful. She is fine, loyal,
and good. She simply didn't want me."
Emma's heart beat happily. Ellis had chased a woman all the way from
Maryland, Jim Snedeker had said. Now Emma knew the story. She asked,
"What did you do then, Ellis?"
There was a faint trace of remembered bitterness in his voice. "I went
to work for Jim. I knew there would be nothing for me at his post, but
the way I felt then there seemed to be nothing for me anywhere. I just
worked along, without much hope or any plan at all. Then you brought
Barbara."
"And she means much to you?"