"That is because for a long time the birds have not been protected; they have gone farther out."
"They must be protected again: we must manage to bring the birds back, must we not?"
"Yes," she answered.
He turned quickly towards her. Perhaps she should not have said that, she thought, for had he not said "we"?
To show how far she was from such a thought, she looked towards the land. "The clover is not good this year."
"No. What shall you do with the plot next year?"
But she did not fall into the trap. He turned round, but she looked away.
Now the rush of the river tossed them up and down in a giddy dance, as the force of the stream met the boat. Rafael looked up to where they had walked together the first day. He turned to see if she were not, by chance, looking in the same direction. Yes, she was!
They rowed on towards the landing-place at the parsonage, and he spoke once or twice, but she had learned that that was dangerous. They reached the beach.
"Helene!" said he, as she jumped on shore with a good-bye in passing, "Helene!" But she did not stay. "Helene!" he shouted, with such meaning in it that she turned.