lives, and if they don't have it then, why prob'ly they never will.
Now, if a man REALLY loves a girl, why he'd do anything in the world she
wanted him to. Don't YOU think so?"

"Ess, 'deedums!" said the silvery voice.

"But if he didn't, then he wouldn't," said William vehemently. "But when
a man really loves a girl he will. Now, you take a man like that and
he can generally do just about anything the girl he loves wants him
to. Say, f'rinstance, she wants him to love her even more than he does
already--or almost anything like that--and supposin' she asks him to.
Well, he would go ahead and do it. If they really loved each other he
would!"

He paused a moment, then in a lowered tone he said, "I think REAL love
is sacred, don't you?"

"Ess."

"Don't you think love is the most sacred thing there is--that is, if
it's REAL love?"

"Ess."

"_I_ do," said William, warmly. "I--I'm glad you feel like that, because
I think real love is the kind nobody could have but just once in their
lives, but if it isn't REAL love, why--why most people never have it at
all, because--" He paused, seeming to seek for the exact phrase which
would express his meaning. "--Because the REAL love a man feels for a
girl and a girl for a man, if they REALLY love each other, and, you look