I guess that's all, Miss Cameron."
"This friend--what was his name?"
"Carlisle--Jimmie Carlisle. But his name could never have meant
anything to you. Besides, he's dead now."
Maggie forced herself on. "Your plan--it turned out all right? And
you--you are happy?"
"Yes." In the sympathetic atmosphere which this young girl's presence
created for him, Joe's emotions flowed into words more freely than
ever before in the company of a human being. Though he was answering
her, what he was really doing was rather just letting his heart use
its long-silent voice, speak its exultant dream and belief.
"Somewhere out in the world--I don't know where, and I don't want to
know--my daughter has now grown into a wholesome, splendid young
woman!" he said in a vibrant voice. Brooding in solitude so long upon
his careful plan that he believed could not fail, had made the keen
Joe Ellison less suspicious concerning it than he otherwise would have
been--perhaps had made him a bit daffy on this one subject. "I have
saved my daughter from all the grime she might have known, and which
might have soiled her, and even pulled her down if I hadn't thought
out in good time my plan to protect her. And of course I am happy!" he
exulted. "I have done the best thing that it was possible for me to
do, the thing which I wanted most to do! Instead of what she might
have been, I have as a daughter just such a nice girl as you are--just
about your own age--though, of course, she hasn't your money, your
social position, and naturally not quite the advantages you have had.
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