"Remember!"
"What shall I remember?"
She halted hopefully, and the old kind voice was near her:—
"Remember I would die for you."
XXIII
Peter was early at Osmond's door. He did not find him working, though the other men had been many hours afield, but standing still gazing off into the distance. Osmond was pale. He looked as if he had not slept, and the lines about his mouth hinted at decisions.
"I want to speak to you," said Peter abruptly.
"Yes. I want to speak to you, too." The answer was gravely and almost unwillingly given. "Come out under the tree."
They took their way silently to the apple tree, but there neither could, after old custom in a talk, throw himself on the ground to luxuriate and, in moments of doubt, chew a blade of grass. Peter walked back and forth, a short tether. Osmond, fixed in some unexplained reserve, awaited him. Peter spoke first, nervously.