"But you brought tears into most of our eyes that night," he answered, "so you may well feel proud of your effort."
"Do you want to weep again?" she asked archly, looking up at him and smiling; "if you say you do, I will sing it."
"No," he answered, and then hesitating a moment added, "I do not feel that way to-night. I may when train-time comes to-morrow."
Her eyes fell, for she saw what was in his thoughts, and rising quickly, like a scared bird anxious to escape, turned away.
But a strong hand clasped one of hers, and then she heard him say, "Am I to go away to-morrow happy or miserable? You know what I came up here to ask. You know what I have worked and studied and waited for all the long year since first I saw you, and for whom I have tried to become a useful man in the world instead of an idler. It was to win you and to ask this that I came here to-day."
Then she felt an arm clasp her waist, and a voice that trembled a little say:
"Answer me, sweet Alice, is it yes or no?"
And then he felt her supple form yield a trifle, and as he gathered her close in his arms her proud head touched his shoulder.
He had won his sweet Alice.