"I was afraid you would be lonely without me," she said, "and so I
returned as soon as I had carried the flowers to the house."
"I am so glad," he replied, with a look of unmistakable pleasure. "Do
you know, this is the most romantic place I have ever seen in all my
life, and you are certainly the most romantic girl."
"Am I?" she answered sadly, and without a glimmering suspicion of a
smile.
They walked slowly down the path until reaching a decrepit old gate,
where they stopped.
"This is the end of the garden," she said. "Shall we go into the
woods for a walk?"
"Dorothy!" Paul began, "pardon me for calling you by your name, but
do you know I feel as if any prefix in your case would be irritating,
from the fact that you strike me as a girl who is utterly above and
beyond such idle conventionalities. One would almost as soon think of
saying Miss to a goddess."
"And may I call you Paul? You will not think me forward if I should
do so?" she asked, looking up at him.
"I will think myself more honored than any poor language of mine
could describe," he answered.
"You know I would not want to call you Paul," she added, "unless I
believed in you--unless I thought you were true and honorable in all
things."
Paul winced. Was he not deceiving the girl at that very minute? What
could he say?
"Dorothy," he answered, after a moment's hesitation, "I am not true,
nor honorable neither. Perhaps you had better not call me Paul. I do
not deserve it."
She was looking him straight in the face, with her hand upon the
gate. He felt the keen, searching quality of her eyes, but was able
now to return the look.
"We sometimes judge ourselves harshly," she continued. "I have myself
been often led by an idle temptation into what at first appeared but
a trifling wrong, but which looked far more serious later. Had I
acted with the greater knowledge, I had committed the greater fault."
What was she saying? Was she not describing his own position?
"Therefore, when I say Paul," she added, "I do it because I like you,
and because I believe in you, and not because I think you perfect."
She lifted the rickety old gate with care, and he closed it after
them; then they walked out over the dank leaves, through the
brilliant coloring of the forest. The day was soft and tempting,
while a mellow haze filled the air.