"
He had been standing with eyes upon the ground, his heavy
hand still gripping the girl's arm. He looked into her face
again. She was waiting there, her great eyes upon his filled with
fear and questioning, like a prisoner before the bar awaiting
the sentence of her judge.
As the man looked at Barbara Harding standing there
before him he saw her in a strange new light, and a sudden
realization of the truth flashed upon him. He saw that he
could not harm her now, or ever, for he loved her!
And with the awakening there came to Billy Byrne the
withering, numbing knowledge that his love must forever be a
hopeless one--that this girl of the aristocracy could never be
for such as he.
Barbara Harding, still looking questioningly at him, saw the
change that came across his countenance--she saw the swift
pain that shot to the man's eyes, and she wondered. His
fingers released their grasp upon her arm. His hands fell limply
to his sides.
"Don't be afraid," he said. "Please don't be afraid o' me. I
couldn't hurt youse if I tried."
A deep sigh of relief broke from the girl's lips--relief and
joy; and she realized that its cause was as much that the man
had proved true to the new estimate she had recently placed
upon him as that the danger to herself had passed.
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