"Yes, you did."
"No, I didn't; really I didn't. I'm sure your uncle's awfully nice, but he's so much older, and you can't be in love with someone so much older than yourself."
"I see; you're forgiven"; then after a pause and with a mischievous smile: "Have you ever been in love, Roland?"
"Yes."
"Oh, how lovely!" and she turned quickly and sat facing him, her knees drawn up, her hands clasped in front of them. "Now tell me all about it. I've always wanted to have a talk with someone who's really been in love, and I never have."
"What about Gerald?"
She pouted. "Gerald! Oh, well, but he laughs at me, and besides——But come on and tell me all about it."
She made a pretty picture as she sat there, her face alight with the eagerness of curious girlhood, and Roland felt to the full the fascination of such a confessional. "It was a long time ago," he said, "and it's all over now."
"Never mind that," Muriel persisted. "What was her name?"
"Betty."