"She didn't!" cried Cherry hotly, and then hung her head.
"Oh, you do know her then?" said Magnus. "Why didn't you say so before? And where do you suppose she probably is now?"
Cherry resolutely stopped and faced him; what though the full moonlight effect well nigh swept off her self-possession.
"Magnus," she said, "you are talking great nonsense. It may be the West Point fashionable way of talking sense, but we are plain folks out here and have not had your advantages."
And here Magnus made a bow so profound that it sent Cherry's words to the right-about.
"What next?" said Magnus. "That is all more or less true, so far, but well begun is only half done."
"Oh, it is no use to talk to you!" said Cherry. "And it never was, for that matter."
"My talking is of some use, however," said Magnus. "I have quite succeeded in bringing myself back to your recollection. What more did you want to say, pretty girl?"
"That you are extremely silly," said Cherry, with the laugh getting into her voice.