"All right, I'll go on. Pleased to have met you," said May, shaking hands shyly with Maurice.
He and Jenny watched her going towards the towans. When she was out of earshot, Maurice burst forth:
"Jenny, Jenny, I've longed for this moment."
"You must have treated yourself very badly then," she answered.
"I did. I——"
"Look," said Jenny sharply. "It's no good for you to start off, because I don't want to listen to anything you say. I don't want to."
"I don't deserve you should," Maurice humbly agreed. "All the same I wish you would."
It may have been that in his voice some vibrant echo of past pleading touched her, so that across a gulf of four years the old Jenny asked:
"Why should I?"
He seemed on fire to seize the chance of explanation and would no doubt have forthwith plunged into a wilderness of emotions, had not Jenny seen May signaling from the towans.