“I do not know as you are compelled to suffer from it!” she returned, positively provoked.
“Ah, but I couldn’t leave you here in a howling wilderness, with the others miles ahead.”
“You exaggerate. Suppose we walk on and overtake them?”
“We are walking on.”
She was in no mood for badinage. Indeed, her heart smote her bitterly for the pain she had unwittingly caused. She was upbraiding herself and trying to think where the first false step had begun.
“Are you tired?” he asked presently in a gentler tone.
“Not much. But a day like this always finds one rather stupid at its close.”
“Were your mental exertions in the woods very severe? Did you stop to analyze and classify the ferns?”
“No.”
“You must have found some delightful employment.”