"I had given you up. Not that I had ceased—to care. And that night of the ball, when the flags came, I was quite sure you loved me no longer."
"I shall love you always. I was mad, foolish, jealous—"
"And I did flirt. Oh, I was such a vain little thing then! I am better now. I do not think it so fine to have a host of men making love to you. Only you were wrong about—"
"Ralston? Yes."
"But you must know, he did ask me to marry him. I do not think it was for love."
"I am glad it was not. I told him he owed you an offer of marriage."
"But he did not. There had never been any foolish softness between us. A Virginian girl may flirt, but she doesn't give away the sweetness that only a lover is entitled to. And what if I had loved him?"
"If you had loved him I should have wished you Godspeed, after a while."
"But you couldn't have done it at first?"
"No, I couldn't." The hearty tone was convincing.