"A beggar-girl?"
"No," he whispered.
"What then?"
"Thou art my love."
Then all the birds in all the world sang in her heart. "Tell me," she said, "why, then, didst thou sink thy ball?"
"That no hands should ever touch it after thine."
"And why didst thou say when thou didst lead me in to dinner, that thou wast sorry not for me, but for thyself?"
"I feared that thou wouldst never love me."
Then she laughed joyfully and asked, "Why didst thou say 'I am not like my brothers' when I asked thee to dance?"
"I wanted thee for thyself, not for thy dancing."