vanity, and I got nasty--sarcastic, you know. I've got you to thank
forever for bringing myself right home to me--showing me to myself. I
was a morbid, love-sick boy, who indulged in so much self-pity that he
thought he was a very fine romantic figure, running off from his
responsibilities and burying himself in the ends of the earth."

"I was jealous, too, of that girl you quit things for, that girl that
was like violets and white roses. I ain't like 'em."

"Jealous! You! It wasn't long that I remembered her, but you were right
again--I liked that life. I'd got used to it. The other kind seemed
impossible to me--I've been a quitter and a shirker--just what you
called me--but I'm going back home to take it all up again, or if you
would rather, I'll stay here and work mines in these mountains, or help
reclaim the desert--if you'll marry me, Pearl."

"But I'm the Black Pearl--a dancer. I don't see how I can begin to be
anything else now; but I will, I'll be anything you ask me, Harry,"
throwing her arms about his neck, "I will."

He laughed and held her closer still. "I'll never ask you to be anything
else. 'The Black Pearl--a dancer,' that's enough for me. You shall have
all the joy of your gift--its expression. I'm not such a selfish animal
as to ask you to give that up, so that I can keep you--you beautiful,
tropical bird--in a cage, just to gratify my sense of possession--and
watch you mope and pine, because I've kept you from your flights. No,
sweetheart, you shall dance, and have your big audiences that inspire
you, and the applause you love ... and then you'll come back to me, and
I'll be waiting for you and working--always working. I promise you that,
Pearl. But," fixing determined eyes on her, "I'll not dangle around